Drunkorexia: the latest trend among female university students and/or authors of kids-are-not-all-right stories

Drunkorexia: the latest trend among female university students and/or authors of kids-are-not-all-right stories


Of course, there are ways to combine food and alcohol intake in one package

According to an article in the Calgary Herald, drunkorexia is a growing problem facing university populations in Canada. The term describes the practice of reserving one’s entire daily caloric intake for alcohol rather than food, a problem that apparently mainly affects females. The goal of drunkorexia: to keep weight down while getting drunk. Fast.

Occupy Wall Street may be one response to the global recession, but Valerie Taylor, chief of psychiatry at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, told the Globe and Mail that this problematic behaviour may also be linked to the economic downturn. “Perhaps…because students don’t have much money, it’s become more prevalent,” she said. While we’re not certain the trend has gone global, the story certainly has—the New York Daily News, Globe and Mail and the Daily Mail are just three newspapers of several with similar articles, all with a bit of a Girls Gone Wild tinge. This may well be a problem, especially amongst a few specific demographics, but we’re not so sure it’s anything new. After all, Tyra Banks—model turned serious talk show host and thus serious journalist—ran a segment on it in 2010.

‘Drunkorexia’ growing problem on campuses, research suggests [Calgary Herald]
‘Drunkorexia’ a growing problem as female students favour booze over food [Globe and Mail]
‘Drunkorexia’ common for college women; one in six skip meals to get drunk faster, save money [New York Daily News]
Young women skip meals so they can save calories for drinking [Daily Mail]