Orthorexia Nervosa- As an Eating Disorder

Clean dieting trends are increasingly spreading worldwide and being very popular.

Researchers and clinicians are very interested in a situation (orthorexia nervosa) that

individuals restrict their diet according to the quality of the food consumed. There are

several similarities and differences between orthorexia nervosa and eating disorders.

While patients with eating disorders focus on food quantity, orthorexic individuals focus

on pure and quality of food. Orthorexia nervosa is not weight loss fast but enormous

phobia about eating only ‘clean and pure’ foods. Orthorexia nervosa should be classified

as a new eating disorder or at least a new neuropsychiatric disorder. Further studies

about nutrional, cognitive, and eating habits of ON have to be done in order to determine

clearly the hypercorrect position of orthorexia nervosa.