Alcoholic beverages like this wine or “light” beer may fuel the “drunkorexia” problem.

I had never even heard of such a word as “drunkorexia” until an Atlantic Monthly story caught my eye.

Here’s the gist: Young people, especially young women, worried enough about calories that they severely cut back their eating to “allow” for the calories of alcohol.

And, it’s a serious issue:

(Adam) Barry examined 22,000 college students across 40 universities and found that, even after controlling for race, school year, Greek affiliation and whether a student lived on campus (the authors did not control for whether a respondent played on a sports team), vigorous exercise, and disordered eating uniquely predicted binge drinking. In fact, those who exercised or dieted to lose weight were over 20 percent more likely to have five or more drinks in a single sitting. Students who had vomited or used laxatives in the previous month to shed pounds were 76 percent more likely to binge drink.

Add in that an empty stomach absorbs alcohol more quickly, and that alcohol’s nutrient-empty calories don’t help a dieter, and you’re looking at a variety of potential problems.

Per the story, it sounds like it’s a growing issue, too.

For Lifering, that means working to help people help themselves through both alcohol problem and the eating disorder that may also have developed.