Eating behavior of young adults

Background. Dietary modification (DM) is at the heart of the treatment of obesity and related disorders. Young age is the period when preventive interventions are most effective and modification of behavioral factors will prevent the development of pathology. In recent years, in Russia and other developed countries, there has been a steady increase in the number of people with metabolic disorders. Discussion of the problem of eating behavior is extremely important both for the health of an individual and for the healthcare system as a whole. Studying types of eating behavior, understanding the motivational factors that determine eating behavior, eating patterns and food preferences, helps explain why there is a craving for certain food choices and how to modify this behavior.

Objective. The aim of the study is to study the characteristics of eating behavior in young patients.

Material and methods. The study is open, one-moment, transverse. The study included 147 patients who were university students, average age 23.4 ± 3.3 years (18-44 years), 48 (32.65%) men, 99 (67.35%) women with a BMI of 24.96 kg/m 2 (SD = 10.57). The study used two questionnaires to assess the characteristics of DM: The Dutch Eating Questionnaire and The Roman Questionnaire for Neuroorthorexia.

Results. In young people, 45.58 percent of the cases showed DM in the Dutch questionnaire and 40.82 percent showed signs of nervous orthorexia in the Rome questionnaire. According to the Dutch questionnaire, the external type of DM was more often defined (61.22%), less often – restrictive (36.73%; n = 54) and emotional (45.58%; n = 34) types (p < 0.01 for both cases). Mix multiple types according to The Dutch Questionnaire were reported DM in 49.66% of patients. Neuroorthorexia was always combined with a restrictive type of DM. Positive direct correlation DM expression with BMI was recorded only in the external type of DM (rs = 0.41; p < 0.05).

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