(PS1-16) Does Calorie Information Impact Alcohol Consumption in Individuals with Drunkorexia?

The co-occurrence of alcohol consumption and eating disorder behavior has been studied in the college population. College students who engage in disordered eating behavior often experience more severe negative consequences related to their alcohol use (Dunn et al., 2002). Reasons behind restrictive eating in conjunction with alcohol use vary, including weight concerns and desire to get drunk more quickly (Giles et al., 2009). The overlap of these two problematic behaviors has been called “drunkorexia.” Research has suggested that understanding calorie information may influence both eating and alcohol consumption in women (Hahn et al., 2020). The current study attempted to clarify the role of alcohol caloric information in the relation between alcohol consumption and caloric restriction using an experimental design. Specifically, we randomly assigned participants to receive alcohol calorie information or control information (popularity of various beverages) at baseline. We hypothesized that the effect of providing the calorie information would depend on engagement in drunkorexic behaviors. Specifically, calories would be restricted in those with drunkorexia and alcohol consumption would be reduced in those without. We also hypothesized that there would be more caloric restriction on a drinking day in those with drunkorexia than without, independent of condition. Participants (N = 131, M age = 20.31, 63% women) completed two follow-up caloric intake and alcohol consumption diaries: once after an identified drinking day and once after an identified nondrinking day. Our primary hypotheses were not supported. Results indicated no interaction between drunkorexic behavior and condition on drinking day calorie intake (p = .657, F = .198) or number of drinks (p = .098, F = 2.78). Additionally, there were no main effects for condition on drinking day caloric intake (p = .623, F = .243) or number of drinks (p = .682, F = .169). There was no main effect for drunkorexia on calorie intake on drinking day (p = .292, F = 1.1), although there was a significant main effect for drunkorexia on drinks consumed (p = .001). Those with drunkorexia drank significantly more drinks than those without drunkorexia. These results suggest that providing calorie information about alcoholic beverages is neither helpful nor harmful. It does not influence/reduce drinking behavior but also does not intensify calorie restriction in those with drunkorexia. This has potential implications for the treatment of cooccurring disordered eating and problematic alcohol consumption as it appears that the quantity of alcohol consumed should be a higher treatment target than caloric intake, as evidenced by our findings.