Women Skipping Meals To Drink More Alcohol
A Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire health expert is warning about the dangers associated with 'drunkorexia'.
A 'worrying' number of women in Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire say they regularly skip meals when they're about to consume alchohol - in order to help keep calories under control.
It's a trend often referred to as 'drunkorexia' and is something that's apparently on the rise among young women in our region.
One in twenty women who drink are guilty of eating less when they know they're going to be drinking so that they can control their calorie intake, according to new research.
Ali Haynes is from the Humber NHS Foundation Trust and told us:
"It does appear to be quite a growing concern, especially women who are wanting to fit in with their peers but don't want to consume too many calories so this is a way of choosing to reduce calories but at the same time still fit in with their friends.
"There's quite a high percentage of especially younger women choosing to skip meals in order to be able to increase the number of units that they consume through alcohol.
Ali says it can have a big impact on a person's health:
"Food is necessary fuel for our bodies to be healthy and to have a healthy sense of wellbeing and to deny your body of what it needs to be able to function is itself a risk. To also then add calories that really aren't going to provide nutrients and in fact are going to be quite risky in replace, is really quite concerning."
Ali says rather than skipping meals - people should eat more when consuming alcohol to help line the stomach:
"They are also going to feel the effects of alcohol quicker because what food does do is slow the metabolic rate down for alcohol when it is absorbed in the body so in that respect alone they are going to feel drunker quicker, which is a concern in itself and all the risks that go with that.
"The message to people is don't skip meals, look after yourself and also on a night out, have a drink and then maybe have a non-alcoholic drink in between so you are naturally re-hydrating and it helps to reduce harm."
While many women seem concerned about weight gain associated with alcohol, only a quarter of women surveyed believe that reducing alcohol consumption would improve their health. However, long-term health issues associated with drinking such as high blood pressure, liver disease and cancer.
Approximately one in six women may develop a health problem associated with alcohol. The Million Women Study showed that the relative risk of breast cancer increases by 7.1% for each 10 grams of alcohol typically consumed per day. Older women are especially at risk, as they become more sensitive to the effects of alcohol as they age.
New Department of Health guidelines announced last week recommend drinking no more than 14 units of alcohol week spread over three of more days in order to limit health risks from drinking. Reducing alcohol intake to these levels could have the best results for health.