
A new study has identified insights into the emotional struggles faced by people with symptoms orthorexia nervosa, a condition that leads to an obsession with healthy eating.
Researchers found that the people who showed traits of the condition face similar problems controlling their emotions as people with other, more well known, eating disorders.
The results have been published in the Journal of Eating and Weight Disorders.
With no established diagnosis criteria or treatment for orthorexia nervosa, the study team hope their findings can be used to develop ways to help people with symptoms manage their emotions better and reduce their reliance on following a rigid diet as coping mechanism.
Previous studies have estimated that orthorexia nervosa affects around seven percent of people.
“For many people, trying to eat more healthily is great and can have positive health consequences, particularly when it is done with flexibility,” explained Dr Laura Renshaw-Vuillier from the Department of Psychology at Bournemouth University, who led the study. “However, for some people, thinking about healthy eating can become an unhealthy obsession that consumes their lives, and severely affects their physical and mental health, as well as their relationships. For example, they may feel anxious about eating out with friends, or feel extremely guilty when eating unhealthy food,” she added.
In this study, 562 people completed self-assessment questionnaires, exploring their attitudes towards healthy eating and their approach to managing their emotions.
Around 16% of participants were found to be at risk of orthorexia nervosa. The results also found that those at risk had a negative perception of emotions and tended to think that emotions are unhelpful and uncontrollable.
“This belief that emotions just get in the way and there is nothing you can do about them is similar to what we see in people with other eating disorders,” Dr Renshaw-Vuillier said.
Understanding this could help develop treatment plans to challenge some of these beliefs and help them develop helpful strategies to deal with difficult emotions.
“At this time of year in particular many of us think about eating more healthily, but nutrition can be a minefield,” Dr Renshaw-Vuillier explained. “The more we read about it, the more confused we can get because there is so much contradictory advice, particularly online. And it seems that for some people, particularly people who may have difficulty controlling their emotions, or who believe that emotions are not something they can control, healthy eating can become a way to seek back some control, with serious consequences.” she concluded.