OBJECTIVE: To characterize eating practices and possible risk factors associated with eating disorders among physical education students in a public university of the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. METHODS: Sectional study, electing as target population a risk group for the emergence of eating disorders. The questionnaires Bulimic Investigatory Test Edinburgh (BITE), Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26), Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ) and a variety that considers related issues were applied. RESULTS: A positive result was detected in 6.9% of cases (IC95%: 3.6-11.7%) on EAT-26. On BITE, for elevated symptoms and severe cases, a prevalence of 5% was found (IC95%: 2.4-9.5%) and 2.5% (IC95%: 0.7-6.3%), respectively. It was evidenced that 26.29% of students presented abnormal eating behavior. CONCLUSION: The results of this study demonstrate the need to pay attention to risk eating behaviors in this group, being justified to take special care with these future health care educators.
Eating disorders; anorexia nervosa; bulimia nervosa; body image
