Orthorexia nervosa is the dinosaur in the room!
As the latest fad diagnosis, Orthorexia nervosa reflects the de-evolution of our species.
The diagnosis was unearthed in 2019 when science declared (without evidence) that eating clean is unhealthy.
A recent December 2025 study concludes that Orthorexia nervosa is positively related with psychological distress among nursing, medical, and non-health-related students.
According to the Nutritional Eating Disorders Association (NEDA): the signs and symptoms that accompany this disease label are:
- Compulsive checking of ingredient lists and nutritional labels
- An increase in concern about the health of ingredients
- Cutting out an increasing number of food groups (all sugar, all carbs, all dairy, all meat, all animal products)
- An inability to eat anything but a narrow group of foods that are deemed ‘healthy’ or ‘pure’
- Unusual interest in the health of what others are eating
- A feeling of superiority around their nutrition and intolerance of other people’s food behaviors and beliefs6
- High levels of perfectionism
- Spending hours per day thinking about what food might be served at upcoming events
- Showing high levels of distress when ‘safe’ or ‘healthy’ foods aren’t available
- Obsessive following of food and ‘healthy lifestyle’ blogs on social media7,8
- Body image concerns may or may not be present
- Psychosocial impairments in different areas of life
Do you read labels? Plan meals? Cut out sugar or alcohol?
Then you might consider counseling.
If diagnosed, would the remedy involve gorging on French fries?
Did the Neanderthals die out because their diet?
In truth, “Orthorexics” are people who attempt to live as natural a life as possible (in a toxic world) to avoid disease.
Left-Out Research
What about all the studies showing how nutrition helps reduce stress and depression?
The old saying, “Food is Medicine” is still relevant even if it is suppressed. After all, food, mood, and mental health has been studied since the cavemen.
The importance of nutrition is documented in the December 2021 study (missed by Orthorexic researchers) showed direct evidence between healthy eating patterns and reduced anxiety symptoms. See a summary of nutrients associated with “more anxiety” vs. “less anxiety.”
What about the evidence of the gut microbiome and psychiatric wellbeing, such as psychiatric manifestations of Celiac’s disease? Or the antidepressant effects of omega-3-fatty acids?
Non-Evidence Based Diagnosis
Bad research is bad research!
Of course, if you have an eating disorder, it is important to get the right help! Anorexia nervosa is related to failure to thrive. It requires intervention. Restoring nutritional health is part of that!
It is ironic that in the world of “evidence-based medicine,” there are no medical tests to support a mental health diagnosis.
All mental health diagnoses are based upon the subjective opinion of an MD psychiatrist using a checklist of behavior and thought symptoms from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition.
When disease means health, and dirty means clean, first health is stigmatized then it is weaponized. Before long, a person’s attitude about food is cause for diagnosing a mental disorder.
All evidence must be taken together before an arbitrary label is accepted as a real thing.
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