Orthorexia Nervosa
Orthorexia, or orthorexia nervosa, is an eating disorder that involves an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating. Unlike other eating disorders, orthorexia mostly revolves around food quality, not quantity. Unlike with anorexia or bulimia, people with orthorexia are rarely focused on losing weight (1).
Cluster Number:
Wiki Number: PW146
Diagnosis: Orthorexia Nervosa
US Patients:
World Patients:
Sex Ratio:
Age Onset:
Brain Area:
Symptoms: obsessive preoccupation with eating healthy food; the quality of food vs. amount of food eaten; more restrictive over time
Progression: may lead to excluding different classes of foods to unhealthy eating and weight “over-control”
Causes: increased viewing of Instagram where “food” is a frequent choice of topics, vs. other electronic messaging platforms
Medications:
Therapies: This is not (yet?) recognized in the 2013 “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual” as a disease.
Youtube Video: Orthorexia Explained (Orthorexia Nervose)
Amazon or Library Book: Health Food Junkies
Click the book to link or order from Amazon.
Support Group: eatingdisordersfoundation.org; 303-333-3364
(The Eating Disorder Foundation)
4 CURRENT ARTICLES
FROM PUBMED
The world-wide medical research
reports chosen for each diagnosis
Clicking each title opens the
PubMed article’s summary-abstract.
- Excessive health behaviors in sports: links of orthorexia nervosa and exercise addiction with well-being, exercise activity in sports categories, and gender effectsby Hanna Wachten on December 18, 2024
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Orthorexia nervosa (OrNe), the obsessive fixation on healthy eating, and exercise addiction (ExAdd) have been discussed as correlated excessive health behaviors with potential mental health implications. The role of gender-and sports-specific differences remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the links of ExAdd, OrNe, and the non-pathological interest in healthy eating (healthy orthorexia; HeOr) with well-being and exercise activity in various sports, considering...
- The Mediating Role of Attitudes Towards Eating in the Relationship Between Compulsive Instagram Use and Orthorexia in Adultsby Gonca Ayse Unal on December 16, 2024
CONCLUSION: These findings emphasize the importance of addressing both compulsive use of social media and eating attitudes when working with individuals who exhibit orthorexic symptoms in clinical settings.
- Validation of the Italian version of the Eating-Related Eco-Concern Questionnaire: insights into its relationship with orthorexia nervosaby Lucia Tecuta on December 12, 2024
INTRODUCTION: Urgent calls for research on the relationship between climate change concerns and eating disorder risk have been made. This study aimed to validate an Italian version of the Eating-Related Eco-Concern Questionnaire (EREC), a brief unidimensional measure of eating behaviors related to eco-concern.
- Validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Dusseldorf orthorexia scale (TR-DOS) and the prevalence of orthorexia nervosa among Turkish university studentsby Hasan Kaan Kavsara on December 8, 2024
Orthorexia Nervosa (ON) is characterized by an excessive preoccupation with healthy foods accompanied by the avoidance of self-declared unhealthy options, yet it remains unrecognized in major diagnostic guidelines. The Düsseldorf Orthorexia Scale (DOS), a 10-item self-report questionnaire using a four-point Likert scale, assesses the obsession with healthy eating. This study evaluates the reliability and validity of the TR-DOS in the Turkish context and estimates the prevalence of ON among...