ABSTRACT
Objective
To identify the frequency of risky behavior for orthorexia nervosa in a sample of individuals aged between 18 and 60 years and associate it with nutritional status (classification of body weight), sociodemographic variables and body image.
Methods
This is a cross-sectional study of individuals of both sexes. The ORTO-15 questionnaire (with cutoff points < 40 and < 35) was used to identify risk behaviors for orthorexia and the Silhouette Scale for body image perception. Nutritional status was assessed by body mass index, with self-reported weight and height. For data analysis, the chi-square test was applied, with a significance level of 5%.
Results
430 individuals participated, being 56.7% (n = 244) women, aged between 18.1 and 59.9 years for both sexes. There was a higher number of participants at risk for orthorexia when using the cutoff < 40 (91.4%, n = 393) when compared to the cutoff < 35 (54.4%, n = 234) (p < 0.0001). Nutritional status was not associated with orthorexic behavior (< 35, p = 0.68; < 40, p = 0.69), as well as body image in both sexes (< 40 and < 35). Age between 40 and 60 years was associated with the presence of Orthorexia (< 35) (p = 0.0005), while there was no association with gender, education, marital status and income (< 40 and < 35).
Conclusion
The results of the present study indicate a high frequency of risk behavior for Orthorexia. We suggest investigating the frequency in the various population segments and the factors associated with the development of orthorexic attitudes.
Self concept; eating behavior; body weight
