Skipping meals and bingeing on booze: 'Drunkorexia' is the newest trend to rise on college campuses

  • A new study has found that many college students try to eat less, purge or exercise excessively before they go out drinking in order to get more drunk
  • This dangerous new trend has been called 'drunkorexia' by experts
  • The trend is prevalent in both male and female college students
  • Purging prior to drinking includes vomiting, laxatives or skipping meals 
  • The intention is to save calories for drinking while increasing the buzz 

By Dailymail.com Reporter

Published: 17:18 EST, 3 July 2016 | Updated: 03:29 EST, 4 July 2016

A new dangerous eating disorder has been plaguing college campuses, a study has found. 

'Drunkorexia' describes a behavior when a student will skip a meal or exercise excessively before drinking. 

They will then deliberately purge during or afterward. 

The main point of drunkorexia is to cut down on calories and instead save them for drinking. It's intent is also to increase a buzz when drinking.

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'Drunkorexia' describes a behavior when a student will skip a meal or exercise excessively before drinking in order to save calories and experience a better buzz (stock image)

'Drunkorexia' describes a behavior when a student will skip a meal or exercise excessively before drinking in order to save calories and experience a better buzz (stock image)

The new study from University of Houston, which surveyed 1,200 students, suggests the behavior is more common than previously thought.

Eight in ten students who had at least one heavy night of drinking in the month prior engaged in drunkorexic behavior. 

The methods of purging prior to drinking includes vomiting, use of laxatives or skipping meals. 

Although many may assume this behavior is exclusive to women, it is present in both genders. 

'Our study suggested that males are just as likely, if not more likely, to engage in these behaviors.

'We suspect that this is because men, in general, just tend to engage in riskier drinking behaviors than women,' lead researcher Dr. Dipali Rinker told Medscape. 

Although many may assume this behavior is exclusive to women, it is present in both genders (stock image)

Although many may assume this behavior is exclusive to women, it is present in both genders (stock image)

The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism in New Orleans. 

Another discovery was that this behavior isn't limited to the United States.  

The trend is prevalent in 60 per cent of female college students, one researcher found.

'It's a new phenomenon ­involving disordered eating purely for the sole purpose of saving calories for alcohol,' says researcher Alissa Knight of the University of South Australia. 

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