In light of the ongoing developments we witness day after day and year after year, we have come to expect constant updates and new dynamics that impose themselves as a reality we are obliged to at least be aware of, if not follow. Among the most prominent trends to leap into the spotlight is people's growing anxiety and preoccupation with healthy food out of fear of illness—a trend that has morphed into a fear of food itself, overshadowing the actual diseases.
اضافة اعلان
This condition is referred to as Orthorexia Nervosa (an obsession with healthy eating). It is driven by a combination of factors that have contributed to its spread and its adoption by people across various demographics. So, what has changed to push people so eagerly toward new dietary patterns that seem beneficial on the surface but harbor health issues that are beginning to sound the alarm regarding their consequences?
Cleveland, May 28 (dpa) — Dr. Christine Lee stated that following a healthy and varied diet helps build a healthy digestive system, noting that gastrointestinal health is essential for maintaining a strong immune system and boosting an individual's mental and physical health. The gastroenterologist at the global healthcare system Cleveland Clinic emphasized the necessity of maintaining a good balance of gut bacteria for human health. She explained that consuming the right foods strengthens the complex gut microbiome system, which is composed of trillions of microbes, including beneficial bacteria.
Orthorexia Nervosa
The term "Orthorexia Nervosa" was coined by American physician Steven Bratman in 1997, marking its first mention. Recently, it has surged to become one of the main topics in discussion circles revolving around healthy food and its reflection on health.
An obsession with selecting healthy food, an excessive preoccupation with obtaining organic and pure food varieties, adhering to specific preparation methods and standards, and focusing heavily on food type and quality have swept the world from East to West.
Although Orthorexia is not yet classified among the official eating disorders according to the latest diagnostic criteria, attention has begun to shift toward it. This comes after the compass deflected from seeking optimal health and warding off diseases through healthy choices, toward an obsession with thinness, weight loss, and achieving a specific body shape through strict healthy eating.
Orthorexia is linked to a cluster of troubling behaviors, including compulsive exercising coupled with obsessive behaviors and a tendency toward perfectionism regarding body shape.
The danger of Orthorexia lies in its health, psychological, social, and professional consequences on the sufferer's life. It heightens stress levels and depressive feelings, impairs occupational performance, shrinks communication capabilities, and lowers satisfaction with what one possesses—all alongside progressive malnutrition, turning the individual's life into a distress that hinders its proper continuity.
Notable Spread of Orthorexia
Physicians and specialists are seeking to include Orthorexia in the official list of eating disorders. However, the lack of clarity regarding the accompanying symptomatic patterns required for diagnosis, along with the difficulty of distinguishing between a normal, healthy interest in nutrition and pathological behavior in the same direction, delays the adoption of a unified definition and a stable, precise diagnosis for Orthorexia cases.
Nevertheless, statistical estimates indicating the prevalence rate of Orthorexia vary significantly depending on the country, the demographic group studied, and the assessment tool used. This is based on findings published by researchers Niedzielski and Kaźmierczak-Wojtaś in 2021, which showed that the prevalence of Orthorexia among the general population ranges between 6.9% and 75.2%.
Meanwhile, it can reach up to 90.6% among specific groups. For instance, it reached 76.2% among medical students at Inonu University in Turkey in 2017. It is certain that eating disorders have spread recently, recording figures that demand serious attention.
In a meta-analysis encompassing 30,476 participants from 18 countries around the world—including two Arab countries, Jordan and Lebanon—it was revealed that the prevalence of Orthorexia among men and women reached 30%. Meanwhile, the percentage of individuals at risk of developing eating disorders in general ranged between 23.8% and 34.8% in Arab countries, with a prevalence rate of 3.2% according to a systematic review published in 2024.
Reasons Behind the Spread of the Obsession with Healthy Food
According to published and monitored data, the reasons for the spread of the healthy food obsession and the phenomenon of excessive preoccupation with food quality—irrespective of its quantity—can be summarized through several factors:
Social Media and the Pursuit of Perfection
With its expanding global reach—which has hit 59% worldwide—social media has begun to play a prominent and pivotal role in steering certain demographics toward specific interests that have turned pathological in some cases, as seen with Orthorexia.
Platforms like Facebook and Instagram, for instance, direct individuals' behavior toward emerging dietary habits in pursuit of nutritional challenges promoted by some influencers as the path leading to the ideal mental image of a healthy lifestyle. This is built on comparison, which erodes satisfaction from the follower's heart, turning it into an excessive passion that exacerbates their Orthorexia symptoms.
In 2025, researchers from Portugal conducted a review of 17 studies, demonstrating the role of social media in fueling Orthorexia among those who excessively use platforms like Instagram and others, where they spend longer periods viewing idealized eating patterns and targeted nutritional content.
Conversely, they pointed out that these same platforms could play a positive role for others by reinforcing support and helping them recover from certain health issues if used with greater awareness.
These findings were reinforced by another study published in 2023 involving 653 young individuals from Spain, confirming that social media addiction—particularly on Instagram—is linked to a clear impact and a noticeable increase in the occurrence of eating disorders among adolescents.
Furthermore, excessive tracking of nutrition and diet posts, thinness and fitness, exercises, and muscle building on Instagram is associated with the emergence of Orthorexia symptoms and muscle dysmorphia. The latter represents an overwhelming desire to achieve lean and sculpted muscles according to virtual standards that have become mentally ingrained in followers, according to a systematic review published by researchers from Germany and Spain in 2025.
The Obsession with the Ideal Body
Some research indicates that social media may have an indirect role in eating disorders through its influence on shaping thought patterns related to dietary habits, and the psychological pressures and standards it imposes regarding body shape and ideal weight as promoted by these platforms.
Another study conducted in Australia on 558 women over a three-month period showed that over-evaluating oneself based on external appearance is linked to an increased risk of developing Orthorexia symptoms.
Therefore, social media can cement virtual standards of the ideal body among followers, prompting them to adopt them without realizing the potential health risks, which may escalate into an obsession and disordered eating behaviors.
On the other hand, the level of body satisfaction can serve as a protective factor against developing Orthorexia. A study published in 2024, which analyzed data from 1,253 adult women, showed that higher levels of body appreciation and satisfaction over a three-month period were associated with a lower incidence of Orthorexia. This underscores the importance of fostering a positive body image as a means to prevent the healthy eating obsession.
Source: Al Jazeera Net - Laila Al-Jundi
