It's complicated: The relationship between orthorexia and weight/shape concerns, eating behaviors, and mood

Abstract

Clean eating (i.e., eating healthy foods largely from nature) has become a recent popular lifestyle trend. Orthorexia is the term used to describe a pathological preoccupation with healthy eating which causes significant impairment in one's life. The present study examined orthorexia symptoms in relation to sample characteristics, weight/shape concerns, eating behaviors, and mood in a general population sample in the United States. Participants included 217 adults who completed surveys on weight/shape concerns, eating behaviors, and mood via the data collection site, Prolific. Men had higher orthorexia symptoms than women. Across all participants, orthorexia was not related to weight/shape concerns but was related to higher weight-related restraint eating behaviors. Orthorexia was not related to stress or negative emotions; however, it was related to having higher well-being. Multiple regressions revealed how the main variables predicted orthorexia symptoms separately by gender. Routine restraint, emotional eating, stress, and well-being were significant predictors of orthorexia for men. Weight/shape concerns, routine restraint, stress, and negative emotion were significant predictors of orthorexia for women. As such, it appears that orthorexia symptomatology has both advantageous and disadvantageous associations and differentially affects men and women.