EATING DISORDERS, BODY IMAGE AND NUTRITIONAL STATUS IN FEMALE STUDENTS FROM A PUBLIC UNIVERSITY IN PETROLINA, PE, BRAZIL

Abstract

Introduction: Eating disorders affect mainly young female adults, with anorexia and bulimia as the two major conditions. The standards of beauty imposed by the media and the obsessive fear of gaining weight have led an increasing number of people to seek weight control through miraculous and restrictive diets, exaggerated exercise practice, anorexigenic drugs, laxatives and diuretics, in the excessive pursuit of a desired body. Objective: To investigate the risk behavior for eating disorders, nutritional status and body image perception in female health students from the University of Pernambuco (UPE), Petrolina Campus. Material and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study using self-administered questionnaires – Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ) to evaluate the perception of body image; Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) to identify subjects with abnormal eating patterns and a scale of silhouettes for students to indicate which one they resembled the most. Anthropometric measurements were also investigated. The data were analyzed descriptively and by analysis of variance and significance test. Results: The population consisted of 174 students aged 18 to 26 years, of which 45.40% were nursing students, 37.36% physiotherapy and 17.24% nutrition students. We observed that 69.54% of all students were eutrophic, 8.7% had mild body dissatisfaction and 21.8% were at risk for developing eating disorders. Conclusion: Some university students were found to be at risk for developing eating disorders as well as had distorted body image, although the majority of students was eutrophic based on their nutritional status. DESCRIPTORS Anorexia. Bulimia. Anthropometry.