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Dietary patterns and eating behaviors on the border between healthy and pathological orthorexia

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Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The obsession with healthy eating associated with restrictive behaviors is called Orthorexia Nervosa (OrNe). Nevertheless, some studies suggest that orthorexia can also be a non-pathological interest in healthy eating which is called Healthy Orthorexia (HeOr). First, one of the main objectives of this study is to compare HeOr, OrNe and eating behaviors in different dietary patterns (vegan, vegetarian and omnivore). Second is to reveal the relationship between HeOr, OrNe and eating behaviors (cognitive restraint, uncontrolled eating, and emotional eating). Lastly, to determine the potential predictors of HeOr and OrNe.

Methods

Participants (N = 426 with an omnivorous diet; N = 415 with a vegan diet, N = 324 with a vegetarian diet) completed a web-based descriptive survey, the Teruel Orthorexia Scale and the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R 21.

Results

HeOr and OrNe were more common in individuals following both vegan and vegetarian diets. Individuals following a vegan or a vegetarian diet had lower body mass index and higher body image satisfaction than individuals following an omnivorous diet. Cognitive restraint and following a vegan or a vegetarian diet were the two main predictors of both HeOr and OrNe. Cognitive restraint was positively associated with both HeOr and OrNe (more strongly correlated with OrNe), whereas uncontrolled eating and emotional eating behaviors were positively related to OrNe and negatively related to HeOr.

Conclusion

The present study contributes to a better understanding of the some similarities and differences between HeOr and OrNe. It also points to higher rates of orthorexia in individuals following a vegan or vegetarian diet and represents a further step towards developing prevention and intervention programs by identifying risk factors for OrNe.

Level V Cross-sectional descriptive study.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to all of participants in this study.

Funding

Authors received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Üsküdar University NP Feneryolu Medical Center, Istanbul, Turkey

    Erman Şentürk

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Begüm Güler Şentürk

  3. Department of Thoracic Surgery, School of Medicine, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Suat Erus

  4. Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, Turkey

    Bahadır Geniş

  5. Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey

    Behcet Coşar

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  1. Erman Şentürk
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  2. Begüm Güler Şentürk
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  4. Bahadır Geniş
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  5. Behcet Coşar
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by EŞ, BGŞ, SE and BG. The first draft of the manuscript was written by EŞ and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Erman Şentürk.

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The authors declare no possible conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Ethical approval

Ethical approval was obtained from the local ethics committee of the Istanbul Medipol University (reference: E-10840098–772.02–2855, date of approval: June 17, 2021).

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Informed consent was obtained from all study participants.

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Şentürk, E., Güler Şentürk, B., Erus, S. et al. Dietary patterns and eating behaviors on the border between healthy and pathological orthorexia. Eat Weight Disord 27, 3279–3288 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-022-01457-9

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