The Link Between Nutritional Poverty and Drugs & Alcohol

As Vox Culture’s trimester on “Hunger Stories” gives way to its next trimester on “Drugs & Alcohol Stories” it is important to understand how social issues such as these can be interconnected and influence each other.  Our primary goal is to continue to help our audience grasp a better understanding of the connections that exist between social issues, such as those pertaining to Nutritional Poverty and Drugs & Alcohol.

The issue of hunger shares an important link with the issues of drugs & alcohol. For example, A brain chemical that stokes hunger for food and fat also triggers thirst for alcohol and can play a role in chronic drinking. According to a study designed by Princeton University scientists, "Consumption of alcohol produces galanin, and galanin promotes the consumption of alcohol. That would perpetuate the behavior." Galanin is a type of small protein fragment called a neuropeptide that plays a role in appetite, particularly for fatty foods. Consumption of fat causes the brain’s hypothalamus to produce more galanin. This in turn increases the appetite for fat. However, a healthy person has enough counteracting signals that break this loop.

From a nutritional perspective, alcohol can interfere with nutrient absorption, which can prevent alcoholics from benefiting from the vitamins and minerals they consume. People who abuse either drugs, alcohol, or both are usually malnourished or underweight because they don't eat properly.

According to a 73-page report by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, alcohol or illicit drug abusers have a greater likelihood of facing eating disorders (such as anorexia or bulimia) compared to the general population. For many young women, especially, eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia can be correlated with smoking, binge drinking and illicit drug use. The link between substance abuse and eating disorders should have parents, teachers and health professionals take note – where there is the smoke of eating disorders, look for the fire of substance abuse and vice versa as well.

The CASA report finds anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa as the eating disorders most commonly linked to drug abuse. Caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, diuretics, laxatives, emetics, amphetamines, cocaine and heroin are all listed in the report as substances used to suppress appetite, increase metabolism, purge unwanted calories and self-medicate negative emotions such as depression.

Other notable findings from the report include:

• Middle school girls (10 – 14 year olds) who diet more than once a week are nearly four times likelier to become smokers.
• Girls with eating disorder symptoms are almost four times likelier to use inhalants and cocaine.
• 12.6 percent of female high school students take diet pills, powders or liquids to control their weight without a doctor's advice.
• Bulimic women who are alcohol dependent report a higher rate of suicide attempts, anxiety, personality and conduct disorders and other drug dependence than bulimic women who are not alcohol dependent.
• Hispanic girls are slightly more likely than Caucasian girls and significantly more likely than African-American girls to report having fasted for 24 hours or more and having vomited or taken laxatives to lose weight.
• As many as one million men and boys suffer from an eating disorder; gay and bisexual males are at increased risk of such disorders.

Because health professionals often overlook the link between substance abuse and eating disorders, according to the report, treatment options are virtually nonexistent for these co-occurring conditions. To read the CASA report in full, click here.