Prevalência ortorexia nervosa em estudantes de cursos da área de educação da Universidade Federal de Campina Grande - CES - Campus Cuité - PB.

Abstract

Ortorexia nervosa is an obsessive-pathological behavior related to food-fixation. This clinical picture has not yet been officially recognized as an eating disorder and is not present in DSM-V. The term orthorexia nervosa means correct feeding. Individuals with orthorexia nervosa are fixated by healthy foods and spend a lot of time preparing and preparing meals that they consider to be pure. This exaggerated preoccupation with food causes individuals to exclude from the menu: lactose, gluten, colorings, preservatives, salt, sugar and fat, as they are seen as harmful to health, feeling safer with organic, ecological and functional food. The exclusion of so many foods favors nutritional deficiencies which, in turn, can contribute to the emergence of several diseases associated with the deficiency of vitamins and minerals. The objective of the project is to evaluate the risk behavior for the development of orthorexia nervosa in students of the Education Department (Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics) of the Federal University of Campina Grande - Campus de Cuité - PB. It is a qualitative / quantitative field research of descriptive and transversal character. The questionnaires were numbered, and then transposed to a digital platform using the features of the Microsoft Access 2007 program. After typing, the database was transferred to the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows version 13.0 The statistical analysis of the data. In total 76.5% of the students presented risk behavior for orthorexia nervosa, while 23.5% did not present such behavior. Age, course, period, marital status and BMI were used as parameters for risk analysis for orthorexia, where all participants showed risk behavior. The percentage of students with a tendency to risk behavior for orthorexia nervosa suggests the importance of more studies on the topic, increasing the level of knowledge about it. Despite some studies on the subject, it was possible to observe that a considerable part of the participants presents a risk behavior for the development of orthorexia nervosa, confirming a need for further studies on this obsessive-compulsive disorder.