Orthorexia nervosa
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Orthorexia, or orthorexia nervosa in full, is closely related to the disorder anorexia nervosa. With anorexia, the sufferer has an unhealthy obsession to lose weight while with orthorexia, the subject has an unhealthy obsession with "healthful eating". The subject may avoid certain types of food, such as those containing fats, preservatives or animal products.
The condition was identified by Dr. Steven Bratman, a Colorado specialist. Bratman coined the term for the condition in 1997 from the Greek orthos, "correct or right", and orexis for "appetite". [1] Though the word is entering the English lexicon, the psychiatric community has not yet officially recognized the condition.
A first scientific study for this rather new (and not yet widely recognized) disorder can be found in [2].
Refences and external links
[1] S. Bratman, D. Knight: Health food junkies. Broadway Books, New York, 2000
[2] L.M. Donini, D. Marsili, M.P. Graziani, M. Imbriale, and C. Cannella: Orthorexia nervosa: A preliminary study with a proposal for diagnosis and an attempt to measure the dimension of the phenomenon, Eating and Weight Disorders, Vol. 9 (2), pp. 151 (2004)
[3] BBC News article - 'I am an orthorexic' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4389849.stm)de:Orthorexia nervosa es:Ortorexia nl:Orthorexia nervosa