The Dark Side of Healthy Eating: Links between Orthorexic Eating and Mental Health
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Participants and Design
2.2. Survey Measures
2.3. Statistical Procedures
3. Results
3.1. Demographic Characteristics
3.2. Orthorexic Eating Differentially Linked to Wellbeing and Strain Measures
3.3. Healthy Orthorexia Moderates the Consequences of Orthorexia Nervosa
4. Discussion
4.1. Summary of Main Findings
4.2. Pathological Consequences of Orthorexia Nervosa
4.3. Healthy Orthorexia Acts as a Buffer of Orthorexia Nervosa
4.4. Critical Reflections
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Variable | Total Sample (n = 783) |
---|---|
Age, years | 28.89 ± 11.99 (16–82) |
BMI, kg/m2 | 22.95 ± 4.15 (14.66–46.28) |
BMI category, n (%) | |
Underweight | 53 (6.8) |
Normal weight | 565 (72.2) |
Overweight | 119 (15.2) |
Adiposity | 46 (5.9) |
Education, n (%) | |
None, still in school | 9 (1.1) |
Primary | 4 (0.5) |
Secondary | 58 (7.4) |
University-entrance | 712 (90.9) |
Marital status, n (%) | |
Unmarried | 657 (83.9) |
Married | 126 (16.1) |
Eating style, n (%) | |
Vegan | 51 (6.5) |
Any form of vegetarian | 125 (16.0) |
Rare meat | 151 (19.3) |
No restrictions | 456 (58.2) |
Variable | Cronbach’s α | Total Sample (n = 783) | Women (n = 575) | Men (n = 208) |
---|---|---|---|---|
TOS-HeOr | 0.84 | 11.89 ± 5.00 | 12.08 ± 4.87 | 11.39 ± 5.30 |
TOS-ON | 0.87 | 3.36 ± 4.01 | 3.50 ± 4.23 | 2.97 ± 3.29 |
WHO-5 0…100 | 0.85 | 57.02 ± 10.01 | 55.75 ± 18.58 | 60.52 ± 19.80 ** |
L1 0…10 | -- | 7.16 ± 1.70 | 7.11 ± 1.66 | 7.32 ± 1.79 |
PSS-10 0…40 | 0.87 | 16.43 ± 6.62 | 17.22 ± 6.42 | 14.23 ± 6.69 *** |
Study 1 | Total Sample (n = 385) | Women (n = 310) | Men (n = 75) | |
HADS-A 0…20 | 0.79 | 7.15 ± 3.75 | 7.26 ± 3.69 | 6.67 ± 3.96 |
HADS-D 0…20 | 0.83 | 4.49 ± 3.62 | 4.32 ± 3.36 | 5.23 ± 4.50 |
Study 2 | Total Sample (n = 398) | Women (n = 265) | Men (n = 133) | |
DASS21-D | 0.89 | 3.07 ± 3.74 | 3.33 ± 3.90 | 2.55 ± 3.37 * |
DASS21-A | 0.78 | 1.76 ± 2.60 | 2.01 ± 2.83 | 1.27 ± 1.99 ** |
DASS21-S | 0.88 | 4.47 ± 4.11 | 5.05 ± 4.20 | 3.31 ± 3.67 *** |
TOS-HeOr | TOS-OrNe | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wellbeing or Strain Measure | Total Sample (N = 783) | Women (n = 575) | Men (n = 208) | Total Sample (N = 783) | Women (n = 575) | Men (n = 208) |
WHO-5 | 0.205 *** | 0.176 *** | 0.305 ***# | −0.158 *** | −0.191 *** | −0.030 |
L1 | 0.101 ** | 0.045 | 0.244 *** | −0.203 *** | −0.269 *** | 0.018 |
PSS−10 | −0.064 | −0.021 | −0.217 ** | 0.287 *** | 0.327 *** | 0.134 |
Study 1 | Total Sample (N = 385) | Women (n = 310) | Men (n = 75) | Total Sample (N = 385) | Women (n = 310) | Men (n = 75) |
HADS-A | 0.024 | 0.082 | −0.203 | 0.384 *** | 0.433 *** | 0.131 |
HADS-D | −0.146 ** | −0.122 * | −0.191 | 0.227 *** | 0.288 *** | 0.041 |
Study 2 | Total Sample (N = 398) | Women (n = 265) | Men (n = 133) | Total Sample (N = 398) | Women (n = 265) | Men (n = 133) |
DASS21-D | −0.029 | 0.061 | −0.245 ** | 0.341 *** | 0.414 *** | 0.129 |
DASS21-A | 0.040 | 0.072 | −0.075 | 0.319 *** | 0.350 *** | 0.202 * |
DASS21-S | 0.037 | 0.114 | −0.166 | 0.358 *** | 0.432 *** | 0.146 |
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Strahler, J. The Dark Side of Healthy Eating: Links between Orthorexic Eating and Mental Health. Nutrients 2020, 12, 3662. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12123662
Strahler J. The Dark Side of Healthy Eating: Links between Orthorexic Eating and Mental Health. Nutrients. 2020; 12(12):3662. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12123662
Chicago/Turabian StyleStrahler, Jana. 2020. "The Dark Side of Healthy Eating: Links between Orthorexic Eating and Mental Health" Nutrients 12, no. 12: 3662. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12123662