Abstract

Background: When we place excess concern on food and health, it will lead us to eating disorders. In recent years, a new eating disorder called Orthorexia Nervosa (ON) gives a new concept about eating disorders. It is characterized by the pathological obsession for biologically pure food, which leads to important dietary restrictions1.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of Orthorexia Nervosa among young adults and to determine the association of Orthorexia Nervosa with selected baseline variables.

Methods: This is a Cross Sectional Study conducted in five urban colleges in Bangalore. The selection of the college was on the basis of convenience of the researcher, availability of the students and characteristics of the study subjects and stream of education available. The target population for the study is young adults both boys and girls between the age group of 18-25yrs. Based on the Review of Literature the sample size selected is 288, the researcher wishes to take the sample size of 300 with 80% power and 5% level of significance and a confidence interval of 95%. The sampling technique that was used in this study was proportionate stratified random sampling technique. Young adult between the age group of 18-25 yrs. Students from all branches of education such as science, arts and commerce. The tool used for the study was the ORTO-15 questionnaire.

Result: Out of 300 subjects 250 (83.3%) had orthorexic characteristics. There was a statistical association of orthorexia with gender 133 (x2 6.144, p<0.013) and nutritional awareness programme55(x2 5.169, p <0.023).

Interpretation and Conclusion: Present study reveals the high prevalence of Orthorexia Nervosa among young adults and it more in males than females.