However, this does not necessarily ensure that the diets they choose to follow are objectively healthy. Individuals with ON often term the foods they select as “correct”, “pure”, “safe”, “nutritious”, “organic”, or “acceptable”, and set strict and inflexible self-imposed rules to control their diet. In ON, patients are fixated on food quality, carefully balancing the nutritional value of food and its perceived purity to attain health. The present findings highlight the need for health professional awareness regarding the problem of ON in patients with RA and the importance of screening patients.Īlthough one might argue that preoccupation with “healthy” eating is not necessarily a negative aspect of a person’s behavior, in ON this preoccupation is rather a pathological obsession, and is thus, considered unhealthy. Greater ON tendencies were associated with the female gender, and lowered ON tendencies with increasing age and body mass index.

The results revealed ON tendencies in the sample, with the median ORTO-15 score reaching 36 (IQR: 33–39). Most of the patients were overweight/obese (53.4%). A total of 133 patients with RA were recruited, and completed the ORTO-15 questionnaire for the assessment of ON tendencies. The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to evaluate ON tendencies in a sample of adult patients with RA. ON is characterized by a pathological preoccupation with “healthy”, “pure” eating, associated with restrictive dietary patterns, nutrient deficiencies and worsening disease outcomes.

Previous research has suggested that in chronic disease where nutrition is an important effector of prognosis, healthy dietary choices might take an unhealthy turn, with patients developing disordered eating in the form of orthorexia nervosa (ON). Medical nutrition therapy (MNT) is an indisputable component of the multidisciplinary therapeutic approach in rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

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