Orthorexia Nervosa and Eating Disorder Symptoms in Registered Dietitian Nutritionists in the United States

Abstract

Background Dietitians are trained to identify optimal food choices for clients based on medical state and lifestyle. Orthorexia nervosa (ON) is a proposed disorder related to obsessions about eating healthfully; eating disorders (ED) are serious mental illnesses with symptoms related to eating, body image, and self-esteem. Both ON and EDs are more common amongst dietitians than the general population. Objective This study examined the prevalence of ON and EDs in dietitians in the United States and, amongst this sample, assessed whether the presence of ON symptoms related to symptoms of EDs, including weight, shape, eating, and restraint. Design A cross-sectional design compared responses for participants after dividing into three groups: those scoring at-risk for ON, those with a current or past ED, and a comparison group. Participants A sample of 2,500 registered dietitians were invited to complete surveys electronically; 636 responses were received. Main Outcome Measures Scores on the ORTO-15 and Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) determined prevalence of ON and EDs. Differences in these measures, and body mass index (BMI) were compared in the three groups. Statistical Analyses Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Chi-square analyses compared the groups. Results For the entire sample, scores on the ORTO-15 suggested 49.5% were at risk for ON, and scores on the EDE-Q suggested 12.9% were at risk for an ED, with 8.2% of dietitians self-disclosing treatment for an ED. Both the group disclosing ED treatment and the group at risk for ON had a lower mean BMI, lower scores on the ORTO-15 and higher scores on the EDE-Q and all its subscales than the comparison group. Conclusions Clarifying the relationship between ON and EDs is warranted, as ON symptoms appear to be associated not only with disturbances in eating but also with elevated shape and weight concerns.

Orthorexia nervosa: relationship with obsessive-compulsive symptoms, disordered eating patterns and body uneasiness among Italian university students

“…H1: There is no difference in ORTO-15 score between female and male students H2: As suggested by others [29] reporting associations between obsessive control of food and eating behavior, we anticipate less pathological ORTO-15 scores will be associated with less pathological eating disturbances among both female and male students. H3: Since the association between ORTO-15 scores and body image disturbance has been suggested by previous findings [25] we anticipate that ORTO-15 scores will be associated with body uneasiness in females.…”

Orthorexia nervosa: Verhaltensauffälligkeit oder neue Störungskategorie?

“…Über verschiedene Länder hinweg zeigen sich bspw. für Diätassistenten und Ernährungsberater Häufigkeiten zwischen 42 bis 82 % [26,[35][36][37]. Die hohen Zahlen lassen jedoch an der Spezifizität des Verfahrens zweifeln [für eine kritische Diskussion [4,38] Auch befürchten Betroffene, durch "schädliche" Lebensmittel zu erkranken.…”

“…Relativ viele Untersuchungen beschäftigen sich mit den Zusammenhängen zwischen orthorektischem Essverhalten und Gewichtsstatus. Dabei zeigt sich allerdings ein inkonsistentes Bild mit sowohl Nullbefunden [2,23,24,27,29,30,33,37] als auch positiven [39,55] und negativen Zusammenhängen [55,56,74] mit dem Body Mass Index. Studien, die auf Basis des Gewichtstatus Gruppenvergleiche anstellen, zeigen einen U-förmigen Zusammenhang mit erhöhten ON Prävalenzen bei sowohl Unter-als auch Übergewichtigen im Vergleich zu Normalgewichtigen [26,28,32,34,45,51,67,69,73].…”

Orthorexia nervosa: definicje, kryteria, klasyfikacje – kontrowersje i rozbieżności w wynikach badań

“…Dla przykładu wiele badań prowadzonych z użyciem testu BOT lub ORTO-15 wskazuje na znaczące rozpowszechnienie zachowań ortorektycznych wśród dietetyków, lekarzy oraz studentów dietetyki, medycyny i kierunków pokrewnych (np. Fidan, Ertekin, Işikay, Kirpinar, 2010;Gubiec i in., 2015;Tremelling, Sandon, Vega, McAdams, 2017). Natomiast w badaniu ON przeprowadzonym wśród studentów niemieckich przy użyciu testu DOS nie ujawniono istotnych różnic między studentami dietetyki a studentami ekonomii w zakresie patologicznych zachowań żywieniowych (pathological eating behaviour) (Depa i in., 2017).…”