Vegan and vegetarian males and females have higher orthorexic traits than omnivores, and are motivated in their food choice by factors including ethics and weight control.
Nutr Health
; : 2601060231187924, 2023 Jul 19.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37464872
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Evidence associating plant-based diets with the proposed 'obsessively healthy eating' eating disorder, orthorexia nervosa, has mostly focused on females. Diet motivations have seldom been assessed.AIM:
To compare orthorexic tendencies between vegans/vegetarians and omnivores of both sexes, and reasons behind food choice with an English-validated Food Choice Questionnaire.METHODS:
A cross-sectional survey of 444 males and females were recruited via social media, email, and Amazon MTurk; to investigate eating patterns, orthorexic tendencies using the ORTO-15 questionnaire, and eating motivations using the Food Choice Questionnaire.RESULTS:
Over half of the participants were male (53.4%), younger adults (mean ± SD 37.2 ± 11.2 years), and mostly from the United States (89%). Vegan and vegetarian eating habits were reported by 15.8% of people. Vegans/vegetarians had significantly higher orthorexic tendencies than omnivores, and chose food significantly more often for Weight Control, Ethical Concern, Natural Content, and Mood reasons. People with greater orthorexic tendencies (ORTO-15 score<35) chose food significantly more often for Weight Control and Ethical Concern reasons than those with less orthorexic tendencies (ORTO-15 score 35+).CONCLUSION:
This study's results are in line with the majority of the evidence that shows an association between vegan/vegetarian diets and orthorexic tendencies, but strengthens the evidence base by including more male participants. Additionally, this is the first study to use an English-validated motivation-based questionnaire that explored diet motivators in vegans/vegetarians compared to omnivories, and in those with orthorexic tendencies vs. those without orthorexic tendencies.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Tipo de estudio:
Risk_factors_studies
Aspecto:
Ethics
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Nutr Health
Año:
2023
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Australia