The effect of age, body weight status, and sex on intuitive eating, eating disorders, and mediterranean diet adherence among younger adults in Jordan
Keywords:
intuitive eating, eating attitude, weight, mediterranean diet, adults, body mass indexAbstract
Background and Aim: Intuitive eating (IE) is one dietary behavior that actively contributes to obesity and associated diseases. The study aims to assess the influence of age, body weight, and gender on intuitive eating, eating disorders, and adherence to the Mediterranean diet among young adults.
Methods: A cross-sectional study enrolled 1684 participants aged 18-40 years. Face-to-face questionnaires were utilized to gather demographic information and anthropometric measurements. In addition to this, a validated Arabic version of the Mediterranean Diet Scale (MDS) questionnaire was used to assess adherence to the Mediterranean diet, the Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2) to evaluate intuitive eating, and the Eating Attitude Test (EAT-26) for assessing eating disorders were used.
Results: The study found that both sexes demonstrated a moderate adherence level and were mostly intuitive eaters. However, females had a significantly higher prevalence of eating disorders (48.2%) compared to males (38.2%) (p < 0.05). Participants' age did not significantly affect adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MDS), IES-2, or EAT-26 scores. When looking at weight status, the study found that normal-weight participants were significantly more likely to be intuitive eaters (57.3% vs. 39.9%, respectively; p < 0.001), whereas participants with overweight or obesity were significantly more likely to have eating disorders (51.1% vs. 41.9%; respectively; p < 0.001).
Conclusions: Mediterranean diet adherence is not influenced by age, gender, or weight status. Intuitive eating is significantly higher among individuals with normal weight while eating disorders are more prevalent among females and participants with overweight or obesity.
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