Created: 12/29/2008 10:33:22 PM 
Undated -- More and more college-aged women are starving themselves during the day so they can drink more at night. The women want to save calories for their alcohol.
Experts call it "Drunkorexia."
Dressed in a skin-tight mini dress, 21-year-old Lauren says she looks good and feels good.
She buys another round and rejoins the party.
"We'll go out to the bars or a club or something and i really do lose count of how many drinks i have. I'm going to have to say on average about 8 or 9 a night," says Lauren.
For a woman Lauren's age, doctors say anything over 4 drinks a night is a binge. But they're just as concernd about what she's not consuming.
"If I know for sure I'm going out on a Friday night or a Saturday night, I definitely will skip meals so i know that night i'll be able to drink a lot and get buzzed really easily and have a good time," says Lauren.
It's a trade off. If she doesn't eat, she saves calories. Lauren says she can drink them down later that night without worry.
Recent studies show eating disorders and substance abuse are on the rise among women. The studies also show that the two may be related.
They've emerged in a new trend called drunkorexia.
Dr. Kim McCallum says, "Drunkarexia is really a slang term for people who struggle with binge drinking and with either a form of an eating disorder or dieting."
Drunkorexia is becoming more prevalent. A recent study showed almost 1 in 3 college women sometimes restrict daytime food calories for drinking.
"It's a problem from the first time you do it because it is a dangerous behavior. It is definitely a problem when it is multiple times a week or if a person is really restricting severely their calories during the day," says McCallum/
Mccallum says there are dangerous consequences as the night and the drinking goes on.
"You are much more of a risk for dehydration, seizures, and even cardiac collapse because your blood sugar is low and you tend to be already dehydrated and the alcohol goes straight into your bloodstream and is absorbed really rapidly and can cause blackouts, potentially death," says McCallum.
Lauren says, "My shut off is usually just blacking out. I've just built up a really good tolerance."
Lauren doesn't think she's drunkorexic, but doctors say her behavior fits the pattern.
"I guess it could be really easy to develop a drinking problem in college but i don't really see that in myself. I think right now is really the only time to go out and socialize and have that lifestyle without any major consequences," says Lauren.
Dr. Kim McCallum says, "girls who are struggling with this or anyone struggling with this kind of thing needs to know how dangerous it is."
Lauren finishes another beer and decides the night is over.
After graduation, she says, her partying days will be over too. "I think after a while I probably will get burnt out on it just going out and partying but it probably will get hard."
WFMY News 2
