Orthorexia nervosa and risk factors in yoga practitioners

• Autor(a) principal: Domingues, Rita Isabel de Oliveira Soares Branco
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/13891
• topic: Perturbações alimentares; Ortorexia nervosa; Corpo; Fatores de risco; Yoga; Terapias complementares.

Yoga has been increasingly used as a complementary practice for disordered eating. However, it is not clear whether yoga is effective in the prevention and treatment of eating disorders, as some studies show elevated levels of disordered eating behaviours, particularly orthorexia nervosa (ON), in yoga practitioners. Therefore, it is urgent to understand potential long-term effects of the practice, in order to guide yoga interventions and treatment recommendations. The main goal of this work was, thus, to analyse the occurrence of disordered eating, specifically ON, in seasoned yoga practitioners, and its relationship with potential risk factors (body and appearance-related variables, personality traits, yoga engagement). To accomplish this goal, we conducted two studies. The first was a systematic review that identified 12 cross-sectional studies on disordered eating behaviours and correlates in yoga practitioners. The second was a cross-sectional study; we developed an online questionnaire that was responded by 469 yoga practitioners. Results across studies identified in the review were inconsistent. Some studies suggested that yoga practice is associated with healthier eating behaviours, but others found a high prevalence of disordered eating and ON in yoga practitioners. Our cross-sectional study indicated a high prevalence of ON, predicted by a high drive for thinness and a healthy interest in diet. This suggests that, like in anorexia and bulimia, orthorexic individuals are also concerned about food quantity and physical appearance, rather than just food quality. Practitioners of Ashtanga Vinyasa showed slightly higher tendencies for ON and drive for thinness that practitioners of other yoga styles. Future work should focus on disordered eating symptomatology across yoga dosages and yoga styles, on the potential role of body, appearance and weight-related variables as mediators/moderators of ON, and the effect of the peer-pressure to eat clean on the development of orthorexic thinking in yoga practitioners.