OBJECTIVES: The number of people following a vegetarian diet in our country has increased significantly in the last decade. According to studies, orthorexic eating behaviour, restrained eating and veganism/vegetarianism are food choice strategies that have several common characteristics. The aim of our study was to investigate the risk orthorexia nervosa (ON) among people on a plant-based diet.

METHODS: 254 participants were enrolled from an online vegetarian group. Orthorexic eating behaviour was assessed with the ORTO-11-Hu, and the Bratman Orthorexia Test. We used the Eating Attitudes Test 26 to screen for risk of other eating disorders and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire to characterise participants' physical activity.

RESULTS: Twenty-eight respondents are at risk of ON alone, 64 are at risk of eating disorders only, and 38 are at risk of both orhtorexia and eating disorders. Most ovo-lactovegetarians were in the ON risk group (86.6%), with an average of ORTO-11-Hu score of 24.46±1.3. No differences were found between the ON-risk group and the non-risk group in mean BMI (23.09±5.78 kg/m² vs 22.21±3.8 kg/m²; p=0.35), MET values (2992.3±3698 min/week vs 2692.14±3014.89 min/week; p=0.648), mean number of meals (3.61±1.34 vs 3.73±0.9; p=0.648) and time spent on plant-based meals (3.25±0.85 hours vs 3.11± 0.63 hours; p=0.835). There was a weak significant negative correlation between ON risk scores and MET mean scores (r= -0.137; p=0.029).

CONCLUSIONS: Our results are not sufficient to conclude that vegetarians are more at risk of orthorexia, but we hope that the results will help to identify and better understand possible risk factors for orthorexia.