Eating attitudes and restrictive diets in an adult population

Abstract

Aims: to investigate if individuals, who have already been and/or are still on restrictive diets, present high scores for risk of disordered eating attitudes. Methods: a cross-sectional study was carried out online in the Research Electronic Data Capture platform using social media (Instagram and Whatsapp). The study sample consisted of 539 individuals aged over 18 years and the questionnaire was divided into three parts: sociodemographic data, questions about the practice of restrictive diets developed by the authors, and the Disordered Eating Attitudes Scale. The chi-square test was used to compare categorical variables and the Student’s t or ANOVA tests were used to compare averages. The significance level adopted was 5%. Results: the final mean in the Disordered Eating Attitudes Scale was 74.4 (SD=18.6). Individuals who had already been and/or are still on restrictive diets presented higher scores than those who had never been on this type of diet. Conclusions: eating attitudes of individuals who adhere to restrictive diets tend to be less healthy than those who have never been on this type of diet. Our findings demonstrate an increased focus on weight-related concerns following these dietary practices, as well as the challenges faced in maintaining a desired weight.