The type of social media is a greater influential factor for orthorexia nervosa than the duration: a cross-sectional study.

Background: In the post-modern world, individuals tend to increase their awareness of healthy eating with the emergence of relevant concerns, various diseases, periodic eating trends, and the perceived importance of appearance. These aspects are also suggested to increase the Orthorexia Nervosa (ON) tendency. Health professionals, nutritionist dietitians, students receiving health education, individuals who do sports, adolescents, and performance artists are assumed to be in the risk group for ON. On the other hand, the use of social media (SM), which may also induce the development of several eating disorders, has increased and become an essential part of life. We aimed to assess the factors claimed to be influential on ON tendency.

Method: This study was conducted with a total of 892 voluntary undergraduate students aged 18 years and older, studying at a foundation university between January-March 2022 using the questionnaire Orto-11 and the Social Media Integration Use (SMIU) Scale. Data analysis was carried out with the SPSS 21.0 program.

Results: The prevalence of ON was found to be 23%. Being single, increased body mass index, studying nutrition and dietetics, receiving medical nutrition therapy (MNT), following dietary restrictions within the last six months, increased physical activity, and purchasing foods with the influence of social media correlated with increased ON tendency (p < 0.05). Individuals who use Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok, who follow someone to receive nutritional information, had increased ON tendency (p < 0.05). Also, there was a significant difference regarding the profession of the ones followed by the participants (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: The type of SM, especially visual-based ones, has a significant influence on ON tendency than the duration. Not the increased time spent on SM but the use of Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok were significantly correlated with increased ON tendency. Besides this, SM may also influence people regarding their purchase preferences, which results in increased ON tendency. Since the diagnostic criteria have not been definitively determined, the findings about the potentially influential factors are contradictory, and the prevalence is increasing; examining the influential factors with the general population is strongly recommended.