With young adults and adolescents making up the majority of social media users, exposure to this type of content can lead to developing unhealthy behavior. History
In a 1997 article in the magazine Yoga Journal, the American physician Steven Bratman coined the term "orthorexia nervosa" from the Greek ορθο- (ortho, "right" or "correct"), and όρεξις (orexis, "appetite"), literally meaning correct appetite, but in practice meaning correct diet. The term is modeled on anorexia, literally meaning "without appetite", as used in the definition of the condition anorexia nervosa. (In both terms, "nervosa" indicates an unhealthy psychological state.) Bratman described orthorexia as an unhealthy fixation with what the individual considers to be healthy eating. Beliefs about what constitutes healthy eating commonly originate in one or another dietary theory such as raw foods veganism or macrobiotics, but are then taken to extremes, leading to disordered eating patterns and psychological and/or physical impairment. Bratman based this proposed condition on his personal experiences in the 1970s, as well as behaviors he observed among his patients in the 1990s.
The participants also answered questionnaires to provide insight into their eating behaviours and attitudes, and despite this study finding that nutrition and health-science students tend to have more restrictive eating behaviours, these studies however found no evidence to support that these students have "more disturbed or disordered eating patterns than other students" These two aforementioned studies conclude that the more understanding of food one has is not necessarily a risk factor for ON, explaining that the data gathered suggests dietetics professionals are not at significant risk of it. However, these epidemiologic studies have been critiqued as using a fundamentally flawed survey tool that inflates prevalence rates. Scholars have questioned both the reliability and validity of the ORTO-15.Most scientific findings tend to agree, however, young adults and adolescents are extremely susceptible to developing eating disorders. One study found that there was no relationship between BOT score and college major, which may indicate the prevalence of mental health issues and eating disorders on college campuses and that health and science majors are no longer the only ones affected More studies have also been conducted on the link between increased Instagram use and Orthorexia nervosa. The social media based healthy community has recently grown in popularity especially on platforms such as Instagram. The hashtag #food is one of the top 25 most popular hashtags on Instagram. A study that investigated this relationship found that increased use of Instagram correlated between symptoms of ON with no other social media platform having the same effect.