Jun 12, 2008 11:07 pm US/Eastern
New Eating Disorder: 'Drunkorexia'
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
A night out on the town can be fun, but the calories in all those drinks can add up.
Consider the numbers: a glass of white wine contains about 80 calories; 12 ounces of beer about 150 calories; and a Cosmopolitan comes in at around 180 calories.
Many women are making a dangerous trade off, literally giving up food so they can drink without guilt.
Some experts now refer to this phenomenon as "Drunkorexia."
One young woman, who didn't want to be identified, explained that "I know some girls who, they will replace some of their drinks with things that they think are nutritious like a Bloody Mary, because it has tomato juice, so they think that it can replace a meal."
Dr. Douglas Bunnell, a specialist in eating disorders, says he is seeing more women substituting calories from food for ones from alcohol.
Although "Drunkorexia" is not an actual condition, he explained that "my concern about the drunkorexia phenomenon is that it starts people on a pattern of disordered eating that push them in the direction of a formal disorder."
That same young women added "I know some girls who, after drinking that night, they wouldn't eat the whole day, the whole next day."
Dr. Bunnell believes that the way that women and alcohol are portrayed in the media isn't helping. "There is a tremendous weight consciousness out there at the same time you have people drinking, and sort of encouraged to drink, and marketed to."
Experts also worry about how drinking on an empty stomach could further impair someone's sense of judgment, and lead to mistakes they'll regret later.
Lynn Grefe, the CEO of the National Eating Disorders Association, believes this is a very scary situation. "Not only are they not getting nutritional value from any food during the day, but then they are taking in alcohol which is, of course, going to make the mind even worse."
Many of us count calories during the day, and that's OK. Dr. Bunnell says it crosses the line "if you are doing mental algebra to compensate or manage your drinking in a response to your eating. Simply, that sign is worrisome."
That's because no one should be thinking like this young woman: "Beer was like, you don't drink beer unless you haven't eaten all day."
Grefe says early treatment is the key to keeping this from becoming a full fledged disorder.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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