07 September 2026
The Relationship Between Nutritional Knowledge, Eating Disorders, Orthorexic Tendencies, and Body Satisfaction Was Evaluated
A study involving faculty members of our Department, Assoc. Prof. Hatice Merve Bayram and Prof. Dr. Arda Öztürkcan, was published in Scientific Reports. The study, conducted by Assoc. Prof. Sedat Arslan, Assoc. Prof. Kevser Tari, Assoc. Prof. Hande Öngün Yılmaz, Assoc. Prof. Hatice Merve Bayram, and Prof. Dr. Arda Öztürkcan, investigated the relationships between nutritional knowledge, eating disorder symptoms, orthorexic tendencies, and body satisfaction among adults.
The cross-sectional study entitled “Nutritional knowledge as a protective factor against eating disorders and a risk factor for orthorexic tendencies” was conducted with 1,457 adults aged 19–64 years residing in Türkiye. The study was conducted online between August and September 2024. Participants’ nutritional knowledge, eating attitudes, orthorexic tendencies, and body satisfaction were assessed using the Nutrition Knowledge Scale, Eating Attitudes Test-40 (EAT-40), ORTO-11 Orthorexia Scale, and Body Satisfaction Scale.
The results showed that 46.3% of the participants had a low level of nutritional knowledge. Higher levels of nutritional knowledge were associated with fewer eating disorder symptoms and greater body satisfaction. These findings suggest that nutritional knowledge may play a protective role in promoting healthier eating behaviors and a positive body image.
Multivariable analyses showed that, even after demographic, health, and lifestyle factors were taken into account, higher nutritional knowledge was independently associated with fewer eating disorder symptoms and greater body satisfaction. However, considering the scoring direction of the ORTO-11 scale, higher nutritional knowledge was also found to be associated with greater orthorexic tendencies. These findings indicate that nutritional knowledge may, on the one hand, have a protective role against eating disorder symptoms, while on the other hand, it may be associated with orthorexic tendencies when knowledge about healthy eating is applied in a rigid and perfectionistic manner.
The findings highlight that nutrition education should not focus solely on increasing accurate nutritional knowledge. Integrating nutrition education programs with approaches that promote flexible eating attitudes, positive body image, and psychological well-being may help strengthen the health benefits of nutritional knowledge while contributing to the prevention of excessive and rigid healthy eating tendencies.
Click here to access the full text of the article:
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-56827-5