Ingestion

Ingestion is the consumption of a substance by an organism. In animals, it is accomplished by taking the substance in through the mouth into the gastrointestinal tract, such as through eating or drinking.

Besides nutritional items, other substances which may be ingested include medications, recreational drugs, and substances considered inedible such as foreign bodies or excrement. Ingestion is a common route taken by pathogenic organisms and poisons entering the body.

Ingestion can also refer to a mechanism picking up something and making it enter an internal hollow of that mechanism.

Foreign objects
Watch battery or button cells, are often mistakenly ingested, particularly by children and the elderly. They may be mistaken for pills because of their size and shape, or they may be swallowed after being held in the mouth while the battery is being changed. Battery ingestion can cause medical problems including blocked airway, vomiting, irritability, persistent drooling, and rash (due to nickel metal allergy).

Pica is an abnormal appetite for non-nutritive items or for food items in a form not normally eaten, such as flour. Coprophagia is the consumption of feces, a behavior common in some animals.