Abstract

FUENTES PRIETO, Jessica; HERRERO-MARTIN, Griselda; MONTES-MARTINEZ, María Ángeles  and  JAUREGUI-LOBERA, Ignacio. Family food habits: influence on development and maintenance of eating disorders. JONNPR [online]. 2020, vol.5, n.10, pp.1221-1244.  Epub Mar 28, 2022. ISSN 2529-850X.  https://dx.doi.org/10.19230/jonnpr.3955.

Eating disorders (mainly anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder) are eating-related behavioral disturbances that are normally largely influenced by eating environment and family. Thus, addressing risk factors that may be related to family eating and that could be triggers for an eating disorder is key as prevention.

From the different investigations in books and publications by great authors that studied the correlation between the family environment and eating disorders, Family Eating has been the focus of this review, trying to give an explanation to the reasons that point to the relationship between family nutrition and the appearance of these disorders, highlighting the risk factors that have been considered most influential both in the development and maintenance of eating disorders. The objective is to understand how the family nucleus can influence these disorders depending on the values and beliefs they have, the personality and relationship of each member with the affected person or previous pathologies, as well as genetic inheritance.

The results obtained were mostly correlational, that is, an unstructured family concerned excessively with the figure, with high levels of anxiety or stress and previous overweight pathologies will tend to be more predisposed to a member suffering from an eating disorder than those families with good communication and established roles where weight is not important. However, and as it develops throughout the work, this does not seem to be a factor that is met in all cases.

The maintenance of these disorders may vary depending on the family's involvement in the recovery of the patient, the family's willingness to change their habits and the improvement of the coexistence environment.

Keywords : family diet; eating disorder; risk factors; development; maintenance; nervous abnormality; bulimia nervosa; binge eating disorder.

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