Drunkorexia is the practice of skipping meals to manage one’s calorie count in order to be able to drink alcohol without gaining weight.

A New York Times article identified college-aged binge drinkers, usually women, as likely sufferers of drunkorexics.

Adam Barry, a professor of health education and behavior at the University of Florida, looked at 22,000 college students at 40 universities and found that students involved in Greek life, vigorous exercise and eating disorders were more likely to begin binge drinking. In fact, those who exercised or dieted to lose weight were more than 20 percent more likely to have five or more drinks in a single sitting.

Barry also found that students who had vomited or used laxatives in the previous month to shed pounds were 76 percent more likely to binge drink.

Drunkorexia can have dangerous cognitive, behavioral and physical consequences, according to Victoria Osborne, an assistant professor of social work and public health at University of Missouri. On top of those dangerous consequences, it puts people more at risk for developing other serious eating disorders as well as developing addiction problems.

“Apart from each other, depriving the brain of adequate nutrition and consuming large amounts of alcohol can be dangerous,” said Osborne. “Together, they can cause short- and long-term cognitive problems including difficulty concentrating, studying and making decisions.”

Yes, drinking alcohol and partying is a big deal in college and that is most likely never going to change. But combining the consumption of alcohol with the symptoms of anorexia is dangerous, no matter what is people say is the new trend.

Although drunkorexia is more commonly associated with females, males are also involved with this evolving trend.

Unfortunately, there will be those who will continue to participate in this trend, no matter how unhealthy drunkorexia is.

But this hard-partying lifestyle couldn’t and shouldn’t dominate the lives of college students. We should make an effort to keep a balanced diet and keep in mind that drunkorexia is a serious matter.

There are many places at Chico State that can help students with overcoming this problem. A couple of these resources include the Counseling Center and the Campus Alcohol and Drug Education Center.

Tara Miller can be reached at [email protected] or @chicoournalist on Twitter.

Illustration by Liz Coffee.