title: Health status, physical activity, and orthorexia nervosa: A comparison between exercise science students and business students.
abstract: Orthorexia nervosa is described as an exaggerated fixation on healthy food. It is unclear whether students in health-oriented academic programs, highly focused on physical exercise, are more prone to develop orthorexia nervosa than students in other educational areas. The aim was to compare health status, physical activity, and frequency of orthorexia nervosa between university students enrolled in an exercise science program (n = 118) or a business program (n = 89). The students completed the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36), the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), and ORTO-15, which defines orthorexia nervosa as a sensitive and obsessive behavior towards healthy nutrition. The SF-36 showed that exercise science students scored worse than business students regarding bodily pain (72.8 vs. 82.5; p = 0.001), but better regarding general health (83.1 vs. 77.1; p = 0.006). Of 188 students, 144 (76.6%) had an ORTO-15 score indicating orthorexia nervosa, with a higher proportion in exercise science students than in business students (84.5% vs. 65.4%; p = 0.002). Orthorexia nervosa in combination with a high level of physical activity was most often seen in men in exercise science studies and less often in women in business studies (45.1% vs. 8.3%; p < 0.000). A high degree of self-reporting of pain and orthorexia nervosa in exercise science students may cause problems in the future, since they are expected to coach others in healthy living. Our findings may be valuable in the development of health-oriented academic programs and within student healthcare services.
authors.affiliation: School of Business, Engineering and Science, Halmstad University, Halmstad, Sweden. Electronic address: julia.malmborg@hh.se.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Malmborg
authors.affiliation: School of Business, Engineering and Science, Halmstad University, Halmstad, Sweden; Spenshult Research and Development Center, Halmstad, Sweden; Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund, Section of Rheumatology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden. Electronic address: ann.bremander@hh.se.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bremander
authors.affiliation: School of Business, Engineering and Science, Halmstad University, Halmstad, Sweden. Electronic address: charlotte.olsson@hh.se.
authors.forename: M Charlotte
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Olsson
authors.affiliation: School of Health and Welfare, Halmstad University, Halmstad, Sweden; Primary Health Care Unit, Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Institute of Medicine, The Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden; Spenshult Research and Development Center, Halmstad, Sweden; Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund, Section of Rheumatology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden. Electronic address: stefan.bergman@spenshult.se.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bergman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003132:Commerce / Q000193:education*; D000072001:Diet, Healthy / Q000523:psychology*; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D064132:Sports Nutritional Sciences / Q000193:education*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Bodily pain; General health; High-intensity exercise; Nutrition; Orthorexia nervosa