Making the leap from healthy to disordered eating: the role of intuitive and inflexible eating attitudes in orthorexic b
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Making the leap from healthy to disordered eating: the role of intuitive and inflexible eating attitudes in orthorexic behaviours among women Maria Coimbra1 · Cláudia Ferreira1 Received: 16 June 2020 / Accepted: 25 August 2020 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract Purpose Orthorexia Nervosa (ON) has been a research focus in recent years. Despite the lack of consensus on its definition and classification as a psychiatric disorder, research has shown that ON is linked to certain behaviours (orthorexic behaviours, e.g.: obsessive thinking and compulsive behavior, guilt and self-punishment, restriction), associated with disordered eating. However, very little is known about this relationship. The aim of this study was to explore the eating-related processes inherent to the relationship between orthorexic behaviours and disordered eating, and understand if it is through the adoption of a more inflexible and less intuitive eating approach, that an interest in healthy eating develops into a pathological one, while controlling the effect of age and BMI. Additionally, this relationship was explored for two different groups: Omnivores and Non-omnivores. Methods Four hundred fifty-one women (281 Omnivores and 170 Non-omnivores) from the Portuguese population participated in this study, by answering a set of self-report measures. Results Non-omnivores presented significant higher levels of orthorexic behaviours and inflexible eating. In both groups, orthorexic behaviours and disordered eating were linked positively to inflexible eating and negatively to intuitive eating. A path model analyses showed that the preferred eating approach mediated the relationship between orthorexic behaviours and disordered eating, explaining 51% of the variance of disordered eating. A multigroup analysis confirmed the model invariance between Omnivores and Non-omnivores. Conclusions Our findings contribute to the better understanding of the relationship between orthorexic behaviours and disordered eating and its eating-related processes. Future research regarding the clinical intervention and prevention of ON in women should focus on encouraging a more intuitive eating approach. Level of evidence IV, cross-sectional study Keywords Orthorexia nervosa · Orthorexic behaviours · Intuitive eating · Inflexible eating · Disordered eating · Women
Introduction In recent years, a new eating behaviour has been the center of attention in research and clinical discussion, as well as in the mass media: orthorexia nervosa (ON; [1]). From the The article is part of the Topical Collection on Orthorexia Nervosa. * Maria Coimbra [email protected] 1
CINEICC ‑ Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive and Behavioral Intervention, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
Greek ortho (meaning “proper”) and orexi, meaning “appetite”, ON was first introduced by Steven Bratman in 1997 [2] and was described as a fixed preoccupation with consuming healthy food. Currently, ON is considered a possible new eating dis
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