Eating Behavior Laboratory (EAT Lab), Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, 50-527 Wrocław, Poland.
Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy.
Nutrients. 2022 Mar 18;14(6):1289. doi: 10.3390/nu14061289.
A relation between Orthorexia Nervosa (ON) and increased frequency of physical activity has been put in evidence by recent studies. It is well known that intense physical exercises are typically related to eating disorders, but its relationship with ON is still a subject of debate. Other transdiagnostic features could be necessary to conceptualize and understand ON; in this way, low self-esteem is related to eating behavior but is not still extensively investigated in ON, and, to date, data are so heterogeneous that they do not allow us to understand if this is a psychological feature somehow associated with ON. The current study aimed to assess whether disordered eating attitudes, self-esteem, and physical activity are associated with ON in young adults from Poland and Italy. Moreover, we investigated the differences by comparing lower and higher ON levels related to disordered eating attitudes, self-esteem, and physical activity. Our results indicated that a great concern about dieting significantly predicted problems associated with healthy eating, knowledge about healthy eating, and feeling positive about healthy eating. In addition, young adults with a high level of ON demonstrated higher levels of disordered eating attitudes and vigorous-intensity physical activity than young adults with a low level of ON. Future studies are needed to assess the direct effect of physical activity and self-esteem on ON.
最近的研究表明，饮食失调强迫症（ON）与身体活动频率增加之间存在关联。众所周知，剧烈的体育锻炼通常与饮食失调有关，但它与 ON 的关系仍存在争议。其他跨诊断特征可能对于理解 ON 是必要的；在这种情况下，自尊心低与饮食行为有关，但在 ON 中尚未得到广泛研究，而且迄今为止，数据如此多样化，以至于我们无法理解这是否是与 ON 相关的某种心理特征。本研究旨在评估在波兰和意大利的年轻成年人中，饮食失调态度、自尊心和身体活动是否与 ON 有关。此外，我们通过比较与饮食失调态度、自尊心和身体活动相关的较低和较高的 ON 水平，来研究其中的差异。我们的研究结果表明，对节食的过分关注显著预测了与健康饮食相关的问题、健康饮食知识以及对健康饮食的积极感受。此外，与 ON 水平较低的年轻成年人相比，ON 水平较高的年轻成年人表现出更高水平的饮食失调态度和剧烈强度的身体活动。需要进一步的研究来评估身体活动和自尊心对 ON 的直接影响。
