A Review of Eating Disorders and Disordered Eating amongst Nutrition Students and Dietetic Professionals

Abstract

The diet industry and media have a powerful influence over women, leading many to believe that they must modify their appearance for societal acceptance. Dietetics, as one of many predominantly female professions, may be particularly vulnerable to these pressures. An integrative review process was used to examine eating disorders and disordered eating within the dietetics profession with the aim to both synthesize existing data and develop questions for future research. Seventeen articles were reviewed using broad search terms and dates because of the dearth of available literature. Given nutrition programs and dietetic practice often involve significant exposure to food, ideas and opinions about food, weight, and its place in health and dietetic practice researchers were compelled to ask "why". Findings were organized under 3 categories including thinness ideology, implications of food and body associated with nutrition or dietetic education, and establishment of a continuum. This review serves as a platform to inspire future research in an understudied but important topic related to dietetic education and practice. Minimally as a profession, baseline data need to be collected to understand the prevalence of disordered eating and eating disorders along the continuum of practice in Canada.

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