Orthorexia nervosa and self-attitudinal aspects of body image in female and male university students.

Anna Brytek-Matera,Phillipa Hay,Lorenzo Maria Donini,Magdalena Krupa,Eleonora Poggiogalle

doi:10.1186/s40337-015-0038-2

Abstract

BackgroundThe present study was designed to investigate orthorexia nervosa, or the phenomenon of being preoccupied with consuming healthy food. Specific aims were to explore relationships between orthorexia features and attitudes towards body image, fitness and health in normal weight female and male university students with high levels of healthy food preoccupation, i.e. orthorexia nervosa.MethodsParticipants were 327 female (N = 283) and male (N = 44) students aged 18 to 25 years. All participants completed the Polish adaptation of the 15-item questionnaire assessing orthorexia eating behaviours (the ORTHO-15) and the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (the MBSRQ). Relationships between scores on the ORTHO-15 and MBSRQ were explored in the 213 students who had high levels of preoccupation with a healthy food intake (68.55% women and 43.18% men, respectively).ResultsThere were no statistically significant differences in the levels of orthorexia behaviours between females and males. In female students with orthorexia nervosa, preoccupation with consuming healthy food was significantly correlated with the MBSRQ subscale scores for overweight preoccupation, appearance orientation, fitness orientation, health orientation, body areas satisfaction and appearance evaluation. Conversely, in male students with orthorexia nervosa there were no correlations between orthorexic behaviours and the MBSRQ subscales.In female students with orthorexia nervosa multivariable linear regression analysis found high body areas (parts) satisfaction, low fitness orientation, low overweight preoccupation and low appearance orientation were independent predictors of greater fixation on eating healthy food. In male students, we found that aspects of body image were not associated with preoccupation with healthy eating.ConclusionA strong preoccupation with healthy and proper food was not associated with an unhealthy body-self relationship among Polish female student with orthorexia nervosa.

Highlights

The present study was designed to investigate orthorexia nervosa, or the phenomenon of being preoccupied with consuming healthy food
An unanswered question is should be orthorexia nervosa considered as an eating disorder, a variant of a currently recognized eating disorder or a separate disorder [3]? Orthorexia nervosa and anorexia nervosa share many similarities but orthorexia nervosa differs from anorexia (Figure 1)
In a recent study we examined the factor structure of the Polish version of the ORTHO-15 test using the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on two split-half study groups (N = 200 in each group) randomly selected from the larger series of 400 females and males [14]

Summary

Introduction

The present study was designed to investigate orthorexia nervosa, or the phenomenon of being preoccupied with consuming healthy food. Healthism is characterized by (a) health-aware and enthusiastic in seeking information about health and illness via books, magazines, Internet; (b) consumes food supplements and alternative medicines all of which are attributed ‘natural’ and ‘holistic’ qualities, and frequently ‘detoxes’ by diet, food supplementation or other methods; and (c) makes positive lifestyle choices, e.g. takes regular exercise, has a diet that aligns with official recommendations [4]. These characteristics are found in people with a preoccupation with consuming healthy food. Donini et al [5] developed the ORTO-15 test based on a brief 10-item

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