Science says clean-eating habits have negative social implications

Scrolling by multiple #cleaneating hashtags is par for the course if you're a regular social media user.

And while the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle is to be commended, a recent study into the social effects of its pursuit makes for interesting reading.

According to the authors of the study, Suzanne M. Nevin and Lenny R. Vartanian, there exist potential negative social consequences of clean dieting.

Investigating the theory, the researchers explained that they asked participants to read about a specific individual before evaluating them.

"In Study 1, participants read a vignette describing a woman following a “clean” diet, a woman with anorexia, or a control target (minimal information about the individual)," the findings read.

"In Study 2, participants read a vignette describing a woman with orthorexia, a woman displaying identical orthorexic behaviors but without the orthorexia label, a woman with anorexia, or a control target. Participants then rated the target individual on a range of measures assessing stereotypes, emotions, and behavioral intentions toward the target."

Based on the participants' assessments, researchers quickly learned that the individual who professes to be a clean-eater was judged more negatively than someone whose dietary habits were not referred to.

The findings were similar in both studies leading researchers to conclude that a stigma surrounding clean-eating does indeed exist in today's society.

"Overall, these findings highlight the potential negative social consequences of clean dieting and orthorexia nervosa, and point to perceptions of control and blame as potential mechanisms underlying the stigma of these conditions," they conclude.

"The present research provided support for the suggestion that there may be adverse social ramifications for clean dieting behaviors, and found that this effect was particularly pronounced when the behaviors were described in a more extreme manner."

Elaborating the motivation behind the studies, the authors explain: "​​​​​​Developing a better understanding of the stigma toward various forms of disordered eating is an important step toward alleviating the social burden endured by individuals with those conditions."

The study has been published in the Journal of Eating Disorders.