Disordered eating focused on an extreme healthy diet is becoming increasingly common, experts are warning. Known as orthorexia, the disorder lacks a formal designation in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, but a growing number of people are displaying symptoms as ultra-healthy eating gains ground on social media.

What is orthorexia nervosa?
The term orthorexia combines orthos ("right") and orexia ("appetite") to mean "righteous eating" and was coined in 1997 by physician Steven Bratman to describe patients who were "driving themselves crazy" with their eating habits. He specified two categories: healthy orthorexia and orthorexia nervosa, when restriction becomes obsessive and causes harm. Although being concerned with the "nutritional quality of the food you eat isn't a problem in and of itself", said the US National Eating Disorders Association, people who have orthorexia "become so fixated on so-called 'healthy eating' that they actually damage their own well-being". This can lead to consequences such as "malnutrition and/or impairment of psychosocial functioning".

Without formal diagnostic criteria, it is difficult to calculate how many people are affected. But there is an "increased awareness" of the condition, said Samantha DeCaro, the director of clinical outreach at Philadelphia's Renfrew Center, which treats people with eating disorders. Orthorexia is finally "being identified and treated – when in the past it was getting misdiagnosed or even missed completely", she told Everyday Health. 

What is driving the rise?
Social media is believed to be playing a role in perpetuating an upward trend in orthorexia, although to what extent is unclear. The "post-pandemic shifts in eating habits, increased screen time and heightened health anxieties" are also possible factors, José Francisco López-Gil, a senior researcher in lifestyle medicine at the Universidad de Las Américas, told the Washington Post.

Between fad diets, the "protein-ification of nearly everything" and new wearable technology that "tracks all kinds of biometrics", said HuffPost, it's "easy to get swept up in the health-obsession craze". 

How is it treated?
With no established diagnosis criteria, there is no clear treatment, but experts say that dietitians and therapists can help. A study by Bournemouth University researchers, published earlier this year in the Journal of Eating and Weight Disorders, suggested that help with emotional regulation could be useful for people with orthorexia nervosa.

"Few commentators seem aware that we may be only weeks away from the de facto introduction of abortion up to birth in this country," said Fleur Meston on The Critic.

Labour MPs Tonia Antoniazzi and Stella Creasy have both tabled amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill. Antoniazzi's amendment "would remove any legal deterrent against women performing their own abortions at any gestation", while Creasy's proposal "would fully repeal the current underlying laws against abortion".

Their move "comes amid concern more women are being investigated by police on suspicion of illegally ending a pregnancy", said the BBC.

'Extreme' abortion laws
"Britain may soon have one of the most extreme abortion regimes in the world," said former Conservative MP Miriam Cates in The Telegraph. In Britain, abortion is currently legal until 24 weeks of pregnancy. "But for the pro-abortion lobby, this isn’t enough."

During the first 2020 Covid-19 lockdown, the government introduced guidance allowing women up to 10 weeks pregnant to obtain abortion pills by post, without in-person checks by medical professionals. The scheme was meant to be a temporary measure. But "pro-abortion MPs hijacked an unrelated bill" in 2022 to make it permanent, despite warnings that this would lead to "illegal abortions, dangerous late-stage terminations, coercion and undetected abuse".

'Traumatic' criminal investigations
Cases like that of Nicola Packer, cleared last week of illegally terminating her pregnancy, expose the human cost of criminalisation, said The Guardian. "Already traumatised by discovering that she was 26 weeks pregnant, not about 10", as she believed when she took remotely prescribed abortion pills, Packer was then subjected to four years of "humiliating" criminal proceedings.

Her case is "extreme", but around 100 women are believed to have been investigated over suspected illegal abortions in the last five years, with five cases going to court in 2023 alone. These abortions usually involve "extremely vulnerable women", said Dr Ranee Thakar, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, in The Independent. "How can traumatic criminal investigations be the right course of action in a compassionate society that strives for equality, fairness and tolerance?"

"It doesn't take much sunshine for Britons to enjoy a little al fresco drinking," said The Times. And, as the mercury rises, Waitrose has revealed what it calls the "rosé tipping point": the temperature at which the pink-hued wine starts "flying off its shelves". According to the supermarket chain, 20C is the "magic number" at which sales suddenly climb by around 150%. Here are some of the best to enjoy in the sun.

Ca Del Lago Rosato Trevenezie
Lidl's refreshing rosé from Italy is a "genuine delight" that should probably be "twice the price", said Rob Buckhaven in Metro. Expertly balancing notes of Mirabelle plum skin with cherry blossom and Red Lady apples, it has "everything we need in our rosé-swilling life".

Miravel, Studio Rosé 2023
Château Miravel is owned by Brad Pitt and, at first, I was "suspicious" of a "celebrity wine", said Rosamund Hall in The Independent. But this "appealing dry" rosé is "exceptional". The vineyard is run by one of the most revered winemaking families in the Rhône Valley and it shows.

2023 Pezat Côtes de Provence
One of the best in Aldi's range, this "salmon-pink" Grenache-dominated rosé has "elegant notes of red berry and a smooth, creamy texture", said Will Lyons in The Times. It's the perfect accompaniment to seafood dishes.

Judith Beck, Beck Pink 2023
"Shimmering proudly fuchsia pink", this Blaufränkisch and Zweigelt blend from Austria is an excellent natural wine from "biodynamic star" winemaker Judith Beck, said Elie Lloyd Ellis in Decanter. Packed with flavour, it "gushes with wild strawberry, cranberry and zesty orange rind".

Starving, then shot. There is no longer hope for us Palestinians
Esraa Abo Qamar in The Guardian
Food distribution points here in Gaza have become "death traps", writes Esraa Abo Qamar. With more than 140 people reported killed at aid points by Israeli soldiers since the start of this month, "hunger" is being "used as a weapon of war". We Gazans "value our dignity" but "people are desperate". Aid distribution now resembles "throwing meat into a cage of starving lions and watching them fight for survival". This is "anything but humanitarian"; it's "humiliation".

Trump's Soviet-style parades show he is turning the tide against himself
Eliot Wilson in The i Paper
"Let me be quite clear: I like a good military parade," writes Eliot Wilson. But "context" is "everything". Donald Trump's "vainglorious" spectacle in Washington DC on Saturday was the act of a "coercive bully" seeking to "emphasise the naked power of his administration". But perhaps his "desire to be Maga's 'strongman'" is "reaching its high-water mark" – more and more Americans are "disaffected, disenchanted and dismayed" at his "militaristic posturing" and "ravening appetite for fealty".

I've reached a middle-aged milestone – dedicated Bird Bore
Caitlin Moran in The Times
In middle age, you "start opening conversations with what – or, as you will eventually refer to them, whom – you have seen on your bird feeder", says Caitlin Moran. "The stages of life are: child, teenager, adult, Bird Bore." We in that last category may be "deluded" in thinking birds know who we are. But in "a world of powerlessness and chaos", there is "something very profound" about "blue or gold feathers floating down" to your feeder because "you're a friend".