Quando a alimentação saudável se torna insalubre : comportamento de risco para ortorexia nervosa em estudantes universitários

Abstract

It is indisputable that healthy eating is a factor in health promotion and disease prevention. However, when the quality of food becomes an obsession, it ceases to be beneficial and becomes unhealthy, a behavior called orthorexia nervosa (ON). Objective: To evaluate risk behavior for orthorexia nervosa in students of the nutrition and physical education course at the Federal University of Mato Grosso – Campus Cuiabá - MT. Methodology:Descriptive, cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach. Students of nutrition and physical education courses, of both sexes, aged 18 years or older and younger than 60 years participated in the research. Two questionnaires were applied, the first being the ORTO-15, used to verify risk behavior for orthorexia nervosa, and the second to collect sociodemographic and anthropometric information. Self-reported body mass and height data were used to calculate body mass index (BMI) and classify nutritional status. For data analysis, the statistical software Stata 14 was used, with a significance level of 5%. The relative and absolute frequencies were analyzed and the logistic regression model applied by stepwiseral. Results: The study sample consisted of 129 university students. High prevalence of ON risk was observed in nutrition and physical education students (33.33% vs. 35.42%, < 35; 77.78% vs. 93.75%, < 40, respectively). The false positive rate using cutoff < 40 was 49.61%. The logistic regression model pointed out that, regardless of sex and age group, being at the end of the course was configured as a risk factor for ON, and having a monthly family income lower than the minimum wage as protection. Conclusion: There was a high frequency of risk for ON in students from both courses (< 35; < 40). Based on the logistic regression model, individuals who were studying in the last semesters were at higher risk for ON (< 35), while those with monthly family income greater than one minimum wage had a lower risk.