Does "clean eating" lead to eating disorders?

"Clean eating" is perceived as highly positive by young people but this optimistic impression of "clean diet" may signal a risk for eating disorders, researchers have claimed.

The study was published in the 'Journal of Eating Disorders'.

Definitions of "clean eating" typically include elements such as eating local, real, organic, plant-based, home-cooked foods, but frequently also touts more extreme strategies, like eliminating gluten, grains or dairy.

Trendy, "clean eating" diets are often highlighted on social and popular media, typically by non-expert celebrities, but there is no scientific consensus around what constitutes "clean eating."

The study's results "highlight the need to train consumers to better distinguish between trustworthy and fraudulent sources of information on nutrition and health behaviours," said Suman Ambwani, a noted scholar in the field of disordered eating and associate professor of psychology at Dickinson College.

Ambwani and a team of researchers asked nearly 150 college students to define "clean eating."

The students were also asked to read five vignettes featuring different "clean" diets and rate whether they thought the diets were "healthy," reflected "clean eating" and whether they might try them out.

"It is concerning that our respondents had positive attitudes toward extreme 'clean eating' diets that cause distress and disruption," said Ambwani.

"We know dieting can create an increased risk for developing eating disorders, so we need to better understand how ostensibly healthy diets may devolve into disordered eating," Ambwani added.

The subjects' responses varied but overwhelmingly favoured "clean eating," even if the so-called "clean" diets caused problems in work, social and emotional functioning.