More young Kiwi women 'drunkorexics'

The Press — 25 March 2008

A growing number of young women are forgoing food so they can binge drink but still stay slim in a concerning phenomenon labelled "drunkorexia". Eating disorder experts in Britain have expressed concern about the trend, which they say stems from social pressures to both drink to excess and maintain a trim figure.

A Christchurch addiction expert says his clinic is treating increasing numbers of young women suffering the emotional and physical effects of sustained binge drinking.

Cases include women drinking up to five litres of alcohol a day which they then vomit to avoid putting on weight. Louise Noble, chief dietitian at the Berkshire Healthcare Trust in England, told a British newspaper that "drunkorexia" was most common among university students faced with the conflicting pressures of heavy drinking and staying slim.

Noble, an eating-disorder expert, said believing they had to drink to fit in but not wanting to put on weight, drunkorexics cut back on calories ahead of a big night out on the town.

"There is more social pressure on them to drink than to eat. It is easier not to eat because it doesn't invite comment," Noble said. "It seems to be socially acceptable to drink a lot and be seen falling out of a club drunk in the early hours of the morning."

The lack of food in their system meant young women got drunk faster but also raised the risk of them passing out and something bad happening to them, Noble said. Canterbury District Health Board alcohol and drug services clinical head Dr David Stoner said New Zealand women now frequently binge drank. The trend of the "ladette", where women drank like men, was now apparent in New Zealand, he said.

Some women went out to get "comaed", which meant they did not eat so the drink affected them more and they were able to pass out. Some women treated for addiction in Canterbury drank up to five litres of alcohol, usually with higher alcohol levels, such as wine or vodka.

They then vomited to ensure they did not get fat from the calories, he said. The young women in Stoner's clinic were typically referred to the service by the courts because their drinking had got them in trouble. Drinking had a far greater physical effect on women, including more easily causing liver damage, Stoner said.