Abstract

VELAZQUEZ-COMELLI, Patricia. Dietary practices and frequency of vigorexia in gym users of the city of Asunción. Rev. cient. cienc. salud [online]. 2020, vol.2, n.2, pp.35-42. ISSN 2664-2891.  https://doi.org/10.53732/rccsalud/02.02.2020.35.

Introduction. Vigorexia or refers to desire to gain lean mass and an alteration of body image, characterized by obsessive thoughts about the body and compulsive exercise practices; Identification is essential for referral to the competent medical professional. The objective was to describe the dietary practices and the frequency of vigorexia in gym users in the city of Asunción during the month of July 2019. Materials and methods. Descriptive cross-sectional study carried out on a sample of users obtained by non-probabilistic snowball sampling. Sociodemographic variables, type and frequency of physical activity, dietary practices and vigorexia diagnosis were measured. The Muscular Satisfaction Scale validated in Spanish was applied for the diagnosis of vigorexia. To explore associations, the Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test and ANOVA were used, with a value of p <0.05. Results. 74 gym users participated, with 27±6.6 years of age, 72.97% of university education level, professionals and with income between 1 and 2 minimum wages (45.95%); 70.27% (n= 52) were on a diet and 68.92% (n= 51) consumed nutritional supplements, mostly indicated by nutritionists, followed by the coach. The type of supplement with the highest consumption was protein powder (76.47%), 5 times per week and 1 daily dose. The frequency of vigorexia was 51.35% and no significant association was found between it and sociodemographic variables, but there was a slight trend between age and diagnosis (p=0.07). Conclusion. There is a high frequency of vigorexia accompanied by the practice of diets and the consumption of nutritional supplements, favoring nutritional and health alterations in general.

Keywords : diet; physical exercise; vigorexia.

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