Relationship Between Microbiota Awareness Probiotic Food Consumption Frequency and Orthorexia Nervosa in Health Professional Candidates

INTRODUCTION: This study aims to evaluate the relationship between microbiota awareness, frequency of probiotic food consumption, and orthorexia nervosa (ON) tendencies among university students studying health-related fields.
METHODS: The study was cross-sectional and descriptive research with 275 voluntary participants from the faculties of Health Sciences, Medicine, Pharmacy, and Dentistry. The data were collected through an online survey. The analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 22.0 software.
RESULTS: After analysing, the mean ORTO-11 score was 24.68±6.3 and the mean Microbiota Awareness Scale (MAS) score was 70.6±18.03. No significant relationship was found between the frequency of probiotic consumption and Orthorexia Nervosa (ON) tendencies (p>0.05). However, a significant positive correlation was found between microbiota awareness and ORTO-11 scores (p<0.05). Regression analysis showed that microbiota awareness accounted for 16.4% of the variance in ORTO-11 scores. Each one-point increase in microbiota awareness score was associated with a 0.057-point increase in ORTO-11 score.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that as microbiota awareness increases, ON tendencies decrease. While few studies have reported the relationship between ON and probiotic consumption, no research has directly examined the relationship with microbiota awareness. A multidisciplinary approach combining nutritional psychology and microbiota research is essential to advance understanding of this topic.