A BRIEF LITERATURE OVERVIEW ON ORTHOREXIA NERVOSA – ONE NEW REPRESENTATIVE IN CLUSTER OF EATING DISORDERS

Abstract

The neologism "orthorexia", first described in 1997 by Stephen Bratman in the Yoga Journal, has expanded over the years by adding the term "Nervosa", coined to indicate a potential new eating disorder - Orthorexia Nervosa (ON). In essence, ON is manifested with excessive concern for a healthy diet leading to attracting all attention to food, thus developing constant and disturbing obsessive thoughts and stereotypical behavior (fixation). People with orthorexic eating habits pay too much attention to the quality of the food consumed, in contrast to the well-studied to date Bulimia nervosa and Anorexia nervosa, where the focus is entirely on the amount of food consumed. This brief literature review attempts to clarify the existing biological and demographic aspects of ON, dietary risk factors, and other preconditions for the occurrence of this disorder. To date, there are several tools available to diagnose ON, the most widely used of which is the Ortho-15 questionnaire. Given the growing interest in healthy lifestyles, attention should be paid to the problem of orthorexic eating behavior in the public sphere, including the development of targeted activities for primary and secondary prevention.

Keywords

• orthorexia nervosa
• eating disorder
• ortho-15
• orthorexic nutritional behavior