In 2000, Bratman, with David Knight, authored the book Health Food Junkies, which further expanded on the subject.Following the publication of the book, in 2004 a team of Italian researchers from La Sapienza University of Rome, published the first empirical study attempting to develop a tool to measure the prevalence of orthorexia, known as the ORTO-15.In 2015, responding to news articles in which the term orthorexia is applied to people who merely follow a non-mainstream theory of healthy eating, Bratman specified the following: "A theory may be conventional or unconventional, extreme or lax, sensible or totally wacky, but, regardless of the details, followers of the theory do not necessarily have orthorexia. They are simply adherents of a dietary theory. The term orthorexia only applies when an eating disorder develops around that theory." Bratman elsewhere clarifies that with a few exceptions, most common theories of healthy eating are followed safely by the majority of their adherents; however, "for some people, going down the path of a restrictive diet in search of health may escalate into dietary perfectionism." Karin Kratina, PhD, writing for the National Eating Disorders Association, summarizes this process as follows: "Eventually food choices become so restrictive, in both variety and calories, that health suffers – an ironic twist for a person so completely dedicated to healthy eating.
"Although orthorexia is not recognized as a mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association, and it is not listed in the DSM-5, as of January 2016, four case reports and more than 40 other articles on the subject have been published in a variety of peer-reviewed journals internationally. According to a study published in 2011, two-thirds of a sample of 111 Dutch-speaking eating disorder specialists felt they had observed the syndrome in their clinical practice.According to the Macmillan English Dictionary, the word is entering the English lexicon. The concept of orthorexia as a newly developing eating disorder has attracted significant media attention in the 21st century. Orthorexia and other disorders
Orthorexia differs from anorexia and bulimia in its relationship to food. Instead of focusing on food intake in an attempt to lose weight and eat less, orthorexia is an "obsession about the quality of food intake" and is fueled by a feeling of achieving perfection and purity by only consuming "healthy" foods.Orthorexic behaviors can often lead to malnutrition and weight loss, and it is often associated with anorexia nervosa. Studies have also shown that obsessive-compulsive tendencies are linked to the development of orthorexia, and some researchers suggest that orthorexia should be diagnosed as OCD because it is driven by an obsession for attaining a perfect diet. See also
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