Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Oct;26(7):2387-2391.
doi: 10.1007/s40519-020-01091-3. Epub 2021 Jan 3.

Orthorexic eating behaviour, illness anxiety and dysfunctional cognitions characteristic of somatic symptom disorders in a non-clinical sample

Friederike Barthels  1 , Stefanie Horn  2 , Reinhard Pietrowsky  2
Affiliations

Orthorexic eating behaviour, illness anxiety and dysfunctional cognitions characteristic of somatic symptom disorders in a non-clinical sample

Friederike Barthels et al. Eat Weight Disord. 2021 Oct.

Abstract

Purpose: To analyse the relation of illness anxiety, dysfunctional cognitions characteristic of somatic symptom disorders and orthorexic eating behaviour in a non-clinical sample.

Methods: N = 445 participants (n = 363 females) completed an online survey with the following questionnaires: the Düsseldorf Orthorexia Scale to measure orthorexic eating behaviour, the Attitudes Towards Body and Health Questionnaire to assess dysfunctional cognitions concerning the perception and interpretation of bodily sensations and the Multidimensional Inventory of Hypochondriacal Traits to measure illness anxiety.

Results: In the total sample, orthorexic eating behaviour was associated with the aforementioned variables to a very low extent. However, individuals with high levels of orthorexic eating behaviour (n = 19) displayed significantly higher levels of health habits and of perceptions of autonomic sensations, as well as higher levels of hypochondriacal worry and absorption than individuals with low levels of orthorexic eating behaviour (n = 19).

Conclusions: Orthorexic eating behaviour is associated to some characteristic features of illness anxiety and dysfunctional cognitions characteristic of somatic symptom disorders. Future studies should investigate whether illness anxiety serves as a risk factor for the development of orthorexic eating behaviour.

Level of evidence: III, case-control analytic study.

Keywords: Dysfunctional cognitions; Eating disorders; Health anxiety; Illness anxiety; Orthorexia nervosa; Orthorexic eating behaviour.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Bratman S, Knight D (2000) Health food junkies: Overcoming the obsession with healthful eating. Broadway Books, New York
    1. Barthels F, Müller R, Schüth T, Friederich HC, Pietrowsky R (2019) Orthorexic eating behavior in patients with somatoform disorders. Eat Weight Disord. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-019-00829-y
    1. Moroze RM, Dunn TM, Holland C, Yager J, Weintraub P (2014) Microthinking about micronutrients: A case of transition from obsessions about healthy eating to near-fatal “orthorexia nervosa” and proposed diagnostic criteria. Psychosomatics 56:397–403. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psym.2014.03.003 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hiller W, Rief W, Elefant S, Margraf J, Kroymann R, Leibbrand R, Fichter M (1997) Dysfunktionale Kognitionen bei Patienten mit Somatisierungssyndrom [Dysfunctional cognitions in patients with somatization syndrome]. Z Klin Psychol 26:226–234
    1. Witthöft M, Haaf A, Rist F, Bailer J (2010) Erfassung von Krankheitsangst mit dem Multidimensional Inventory of Hypochondriacal Traits (MIHT) [German validation of the Multidimensional Inventory of Hypochondriacal Traits (MIHT)]. Diagnostica 56:2–12. https://doi.org/10.1026/0012-1924/a000005 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources