Background

Orthorexia nervosa is a condition that is used to explain an extremely healthy behavior in terms of food. Ortorexia nervosa is not a diagnosed eating disorder and the concept exhibits both similarities and differences with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. There are also similarities between orthorexia nervosa and obsessive compulsive disorder.

Aim

The aim of this study was to describe the area of knowledge covering the concept of orthorexia nervosa.

Method

A literature review was used to analyze eleven quantitative and one qualitative article.

Results

The result confirms that orthorexia nervosa is an extremely healthy behavior with consequences like obsessions, malnutrition and becoming socially isolated. The fact that orthorexia nervosa not is a generally accepted diagnosis means difficulties to both measure and to determine prevalence.

Conclusion

In the daily work of nurses with health promotion it requires knowledge of what is healthy and what is unhealthy. By understanding what orthorexia nervosa is, an individualized care can be achieved. More research on the concept ortorexia nervosa is required to determine whether there needs to be a diagnosis or if the orthorectic behavior is nothing more than a part of other mental disorders.