The special issue dedicated to “Disordered Eating and Lifestyle Studies” brings together articles from different researchers to provide a comprehensive view of the relationship between nutrition, eating patterns and lifestyles.
Professor Bárbara César Machado, from the Faculty of Education and Psychology (FEP-UCP), was one of the guest editors of a special issue of Nutrients, in collaboration with Sónia Gonçalves, from the School of Psychology at the University do Minho. For this special issue, several researchers were invited to publish original work on disordered eating and eating disorders.
The aim was to create a thematic issue with scientific articles that would contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between nutrition, eating patterns and lifestyles, in order to better inform and improve prevention and intervention strategies.
Articles published cover a wide range of topics
The articles selected by the two Portuguese editors for this special issue cover a wide range of topics, such as body image comparison and body dissatisfaction, food addiction, emotional eating, family meals, loss of control over food, orthorexia nervosa and bariatric surgery. The articles have been selected to ensure a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach, reflecting the complexity of the topic.
Bárbara César Machado explains the importance of creating this special issue: “We felt that there was a need for more studies addressing the relationship between disordered eating and lifestyle in order to inform interventions and improve the effectiveness of personalised prevention programmes and promote healthy eating behaviours in the community.”
“Disordered eating is often associated with body dissatisfaction, self-criticism, cognitive rigidity, difficulties in emotional regulation and rumination, and can lead to specific behaviours such as loss of control over eating, binge eating and compulsive exercise," she adds.
Expected impact of the special issue on science and society
The FEP-UCP faculty hopes that this special issue will help to keep research into eating disorders and lifestyles on the agenda, and that it will help to promote research in certain key areas. Among these, Bárbara César Machado highlights the need to develop longitudinal studies that follow individuals from childhood to adulthood in order to identify early markers associated with eating disorders, and the importance of exploring the impact of digital and social platforms on body image and eating behaviour.
The researcher, from the Research Centre for Human Development (CEDH), also stresses the need to develop prevention programmes that integrate education on healthy eating and body positivity into school curricula.
In addition, "future research should also focus on involving families and communities to create a supportive environment that promotes positive attitudes towards food and body image," she concludes.
By bringing together the work of different researchers, this special issue of Nutrients helps to disseminate knowledge and encourage new collaborations in the field.
