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On orthorexia nervosa: A review of the literature and proposed diagnostic criteria
Abstract
There has been a growing interest among clinicians and researchers about a condition where people restrict their diet based not on quantity of food they consume, but based on its quality. Bratman (1997) coined the term "orthorexia nervosa" to describe people whose extreme diets - intended for health reasons - are in fact leading to malnutrition and/or impairment of daily functioning. There has also recently been intense media interest in people whose highly restrictive "healthy" diet leads to disordered eating. Despite this condition being first described in the U.S., and receiving recent media interest here, orthorexia has largely gone unnoticed in the North American literature. This review article details the literature of orthorexia nervosa, describing its emergence as a condition first described by a physician in a yoga magazine, to its being discussed in the scientific literature. It also reviews prevalence studies and discusses marked shortcomings in the literature. Finally, diagnostic criteria are proposed, as are future directions for research.
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“Extreme diets intended for health reasons which impair daily function have been described as “orthorexia nervosa” which appears to be growing problem [197].”
From Food Addiction and Psychosocial Adversity: Biological Embedding, Contextual Factors, and Public Health Implications (2020) · cites this paper as [197]
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“However, Dunn and Bratman [24] make a compelling argument that there is sufficient evidence to suggest ON is a distinct condition.”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Dunn, T. M., & Bratman, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Northern Colorado (US)
- California Pacific Medical Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Dunn, Thomas M.
- Venue
- Eating Behaviors
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-04
- Volume
- 21
- Pages
- 11-17
- ISSN
- 1471-0153 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2200303661
- Cited by
- 635
- References
- 56
- Citations by year
- 2026: 57 · 2025: 66 · 2024: 56 · 2023: 70 · 2022: 93 · 2021: 82 · 2020: 73 · 2019: 53 · 2018: 43 · 2017: 30 · 2016: 11
- FWCI
- 34.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Eating Behaviors (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Child Nutrition and Feeding Issues
- Keywords
- orthorexia nervosa, diagnostic criteria, restrictive dieting, malnutrition, disordered eating, prevalence, functional disability
- MeSH terms
- Diet, Healthy, Adult, Feeding and Eating Disorders, Cross-Sectional Studies, Diet, Feeding Behavior, Female, Humans, Male
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