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Healthy orthorexia vs orthorexia nervosa: associations with body appreciation, functionality appreciation, intuitive eating and embodiment

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Abstract

Purpose

Current conceptualizations and measures of orthorexia nervosa may not be accurately distinguishing between the healthy vs pathological pursuit of a healthy diet, leading to very high prevalence rates and risking the pathologizing and stigmatizing of healthy eating more generally. Recent research has identified healthy orthorexia as a novel construct conceptually distinct from orthorexia nervosa, which represents the non-pathological pursuit of a healthy diet. In light of the strong body of evidence supporting the role of positive body image in eating behavior, the current study aimed to examine the associations between healthy orthorexia, orthorexia nervosa, intuitive eating and indices of positive body image.

Methods

The current study employed a cross-sectional design. An online community sample (N = 835; 62% women; Mage = 40.24, SD = 14.45) completed self-report questionnaires including the Teruel Orthorexia Scale, Body Appreciation Scale-2, Functionality Appreciation Scale, Intuitive Eating Scale-2, and Experience of Embodiment Scale.

Results

Intuitive eating and indices of positive body image were significantly positively associated with healthy orthorexia and inversely associated with orthorexia nervosa. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis found that intuitive eating and indices of body image were uniquely associated with 13.3% of the variance of healthy orthorexia above and beyond that accounted for by orthorexia nervosa. Intuitive eating moderated the relationship between healthy orthorexia and orthorexia nervosa.

Conclusion

The findings of this study provide support for intuitive eating and indices of positive body image as worthy of further exploration as important factors which distinguish between healthy orthorexia and orthorexia nervosa.

Level of evidence

V, descriptive study.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Neapolis University Pafos, 2 Danai Avenue, 8042, Pafos, Cyprus

    Elly Anastasiades & Marios Argyrides

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  1. Elly Anastasiades
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  2. Marios Argyrides
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Contributions

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

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Correspondence to Elly Anastasiades.

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The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Ethics approval

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Ethical approval for the study was granted by the Cyprus National Bioethics Committee (EEBK ΕΠ 2021.02.58).

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Anastasiades, E., Argyrides, M. Healthy orthorexia vs orthorexia nervosa: associations with body appreciation, functionality appreciation, intuitive eating and embodiment. Eat Weight Disord 27, 3197–3206 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-022-01449-9

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