Body image and nutritional status

The necessity to look for effective methods of prevention and treatment of obesity causes that more and more attention is paid to the psychological factors that may play an important role in the pathogenesis of this disease. Correct self-perception, in relation to the size of own body, is extremely important in maintaining mental and physical health, as the visualization of the body image and its proper perception are extremely important in the process of shaping proper eating habits.

Self-perception of the body size is defined as the image of its size, shape and generally understood form, obtained by means of the senses as well as the overall feelings about the body and accompanying its perception. It can be affected by personality traits, cognitive-behavioural factors, individual experiences and socio-cultural impact.

As self-perception of body size and its acceptance is one of the factors causing emotional disturbances which may be resulting in eating disorders and nutritional status disturbances, its assessment should be a part of daily clinical practice in diagnosing patients with nutritional status disturbance.

The aim of this article is to describe the current state of knowledge about the theory of body image visualization and the methods of assessment of self-perception of the body size and its acceptance.