Diagnosis of orthorexia
At present, there are no recognized diagnostic criteria for orthorexia.
Faced with the suspicion of a nonspecific eating disorder (TCA-NS) orthorexia type, the health specialist (general practitioner, nutritionist, psychiatrist) will question the person about their diet.
He will assess the behaviours, the pansies and emotions of the person related to the desire to eat pure and healthy foods.
He will look for the presence of other disorders (obsessive-compulsive disorders, depression, anxiety) and will monitor the repercussions of the disorder on the body (BMI, deficiencies).
Finally, he will assess the impact of the disorder on the everyday life (number of hours spent per day to choose your diet) and on the social life of the person.
Only a healthcare professional can diagnose eating disorder (ACT).
The Bratman test Dr. Bratman has developed a practical and informative test that allows you to know the relationship you can have to your diet. All you have to do is answer “yes” or “no” to the following questions: – Do you spend more than 3 hours a day thinking about your diet? – Do you plan your meals several days in advance? – Is the nutritional value of your meal more important to you than the pleasure of tasting it? – Has the quality of your life deteriorated, while the quality of your food has improved? – Have you recently become more demanding of yourself? – – Is your self-esteem reinforced by your desire to eat healthy? – Did you give up foods that you liked in favor of “healthy” foods? – Does your diet interfere with your outings, keeping you away from family and friends? – Do you feel guilty when you stray from your diet? – Do you feel at peace with yourself and do you think you have good control over yourself when you eat healthy? If you answered “yes” to 4 or 5 of the 10 questions above, you now know that you should take a more relaxed attitude about your food. If more than half of you answered “yes”, you may be orthorexic. It is then advisable to turn to a health professional to discuss it. Source: The obsession with eating “healthy”: a new eating behavior disorder – F. Le Thai – Nutrition Book of the Quotidien du Médecin of 25/11/2005 |
Researchers are working on the scientific validation of a diagnostic tool (ORTO-11, ORTO-15) inspired by Bratman questionnaire for screening for orthorexia. However, since orthorexia does not benefit from international diagnostic criteria, few teams of researchers are working on this disorder.2,3.