Comparison of Eating Attitudes and the Susceptibility to Orthorexia Nervosa of Students in Health-Related Fields and Those in Other Fields

Abstract

Background: This study was conducted to evaluate the eating attitudes and behaviors, the susceptibility to Orthorexia nervosa and obsessive attitudes of the students who were taking undergraduate education in the field of health and the students who were not taking undergraduate education in the field of health at the time of the study. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Akdeniz University with randomly selected 304 students who were studying in the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing Law and Communication, Antalya, Turkey. Data, sociodemographic features of the students were collected using the questionnaire form consisting of Eating Attitude Test (EAT-40), The Orthorexia Nervosa Evaluation Scale (ORTO-15) and Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (MOCI). Results: 61.5% of the students were female. 51.9% of them were studying in the health field, while 48.1% of them were studying in other fields. At the beginning of the study, the use of ORTO-15 scale was planned to evaluate the students' orthorexic behaviors, but they were evaluated with the ORTO-11 scale because of the validity and resusceptibility of the ORTO-15 scale were found as too low. The incidence of orthorexic behavior was higher in students who were not studying in the field of health for both ORTO-15 and ORTO-11 scales. Conclusion: It is necessary to acquire healthy eating habits for university students by practical nutrition education given informal and non-formal education institutions, thus their quality of life can be increased.

Orthorexia nervosa is a concern in gastroenterology: A scoping review

“…Sample sizes ranged from 10 to 2826 participants, with an age range of 18–92 years. Six population groups were identified; twenty‐six focused on university students, 6,24–48 12 on the general population, 49–60 10 on “health‐minded” individuals, 5,61–69 four on dietitians and health professionals, 70–73 four on people with a chronic illness, 74–77 and two on people with ED 77,78 …”

“…Sample sizes ranged from 8 to 2826 people. Sixteen studies focused on “health‐minded” individuals, 64–69,79–88 seven on university students, 27,30,31,36,38,43,89 six on the general population, 50,51,53,54,77,90 one on people with diagnosed orthorexia, 91 one on people with type 2 diabetes mellitus 75 and one on a small group personally known to the research team 56 . Most found that individuals with orthorexia self‐reported adherence to specific diets, while some explored how certain therapeutic diets may be a contributing factor to developing orthorexia.…”

Diet Quality, Dieting, Attitudes and Nutrition Knowledge: Their Relationship in Polish Young Adults—A Cross-Sectional Study

“…The choice of a field of study may be based on the candidate’s interests, so it can be assumed that even the first year students majoring in food and nutrition have a higher level of nutrition knowledge, including declarative knowledge, but may also experience more nutrition problems, such as obsessions or restrictions [ 30 ]. As a population group, they distinguish themselves by a relatively higher prevalence of disordered eating behaviors (e.g., high intensity of orthorexic behaviors) or eating disorders (e.g., anorexia) [ 30 , 31 ], which may start with various dietary restrictions. These characteristics justify conducting research in which nutrition knowledge and attitudes towards food and nutrition, but also dieting, are considered as factors explaining the quality of the diet of students involved in food and nutrition-related majors.…”

Evaluation of the Presence of Orthorexia Nervosa in Individuals With Type 2 Diabetes and Its Relationship With Diabetes Self-management

“…Although not yet accepted as a formal medical condition, "orthorexia nervosa" is a growing and important health problem according to many health professionals [5,9]. The obsessive situation seen in orthorexia pushes individuals to adopt strict diets or to remove essential nutrients from their diets, and therefore, inadequate and unbalanced nutrition can be seen in individuals with these characteristics [5,10,11].…”

“…Continuous dieting for the treatment of many diseases or just to be thin can cause eating behavior disorders in some individuals. The incidence of Orthorexia Nervosa (ON), which is one of the unclassi able eating behavior disorders and de ned as a healthy eating obsession, has started to increase in recent years [4][5][6]. First described by Steven Bratman, orthorexia is explained as a pathological obsession with consuming healthy foods that are biologically pure and do not contain herbicides, pesticides or arti cial substances [ 5,7].…”