Evaluation of Orthorexia Nervosa and Symptomatology Associated with Eating Disorders among European University Students: A Multicentre Cross-Sectional Study.

Anna Brytek-Matera,Anna Staniszewska,María Dolores Onieva-Zafra,María Laura Parra-Fernández,Justyna Modrzejewska,Elia Fernández-Martínez

doi:10.3390/nu12123716

Abstract

The objectives of the present study were to (1) evaluate prevalence of orthorexia nervosa (ON) in university students in Spain and Poland, (2) assess differences in ON and eating disorder (ED) pathology in both samples and (3) examine the relationship between ON and ED symptoms among Spanish and Polish university students. Eight hundred and sixty university students participated in the present study (Mage = 21.17 ± 3.38; MBMI = 22.57 ± 3.76). The Spanish and Polish samples comprised 485 and 375 students, respectively. The Düsseldorf Orthorexia Scale and the Eating Disorder Inventory were used in the present study. ON prevalence rates of 2.3% and 2.9%, respectively, are found in the Spanish and Polish samples. Compared to Polish students, Spanish university students reported increased drive for thinness and lower body dissatisfaction, lower level of ineffectiveness and lower level of interpersonal distrust. ON was positively related to drive for thinness, bulimia, body dissatisfaction, perfectionism interoceptive awareness (in both Spanish and Polish students) and ineffectiveness (in Spanish students). Our findings suggest that ON significantly overlaps with ED symptoms, which is in line with recent studies. Longitudinal studies are needed to assess how ON develops in a sample of young adults and whether it develops in isolation of or in parallel with ED pathology.

Highlights

Eating behaviour is strongly influenced by social context [1]
Our results showed that Spanish university students had an orthorexia nervosa (ON) prevalence rate of 2.3%, whereas the Polish sample had an ON prevalence rate of 2.9%
Our findings show that 2.3% of students in Spain and 2.9% of students in Poland exceeded the preliminary cut of score of ON, while 8.6% of the Spanish students and 7.4% of the Polish sample were at risk of developing ON

Summary

Introduction

Over the last several years societal attitudes towards healthy eating and dietary behaviour are changing, with an increasing emphasis on high-quality foods or ‘clean’ eating [2]. “Clean eating” (restrictive eating patterns focusing on the consumption of healthy, “pure” foods) may reflect vulnerability to a pathological fixation with healthy eating [3]. Eating, strict avoidance of foods considered to be impure, unhealthy or improper, intense preoccupation. Preoccupation with either affirmative or restrictive dietary practices believed to promote health (which result in the exclusion of entire food groups), focus on food quality (not quantity), self-punishment when not complying with dietary rules, health complications (e.g., malnutrition), psychological disturbances (e.g., major depressive disorder [7]), and cognitive distortions [8] are features of ON [9]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion