I recently talked with a 19-year-old UNC coed. Our conversation turned to a discussion about campus alcohol use.

She talked about her long-term use. Regularly consuming alcohol, she often suffers its common ill-effects. While she knew of no personal health damage (yet), the insidious effects of alcohol are often slow to reveal their presence.

Like many young women, she expressed the social pressure of thin appearance, while seeking social acceptability. Acceptability to her means alcohol. Her solution -- eliminating food on days she expects a night of heavy drinking.

Highlighting the rising abuse of alcohol by women, her troubling choices reminded me of the latest collegiate drinking trend -- "Drunkorexia."

Though not yet an official medical diagnosis, it's a cultural term used by health experts to describe another emerging alcohol health threat to youths. This term describes, fearful of weight gain from calories, the practice of restricting food intake to accommodate the indulgence of alcohol. In other words, giving up food's nourishing calories to make room for alcohol's non-nourishing calories.

Though applicable to males and females alike, women are more severely effected. It's estimated that 30 percent of women with alcohol problems also have some type of eating disorder.

The term itself combines the afflictions of alcoholism and anorexia, but medical professionals are undecided about whether this is more accurately an eating disorder, alcohol addiction or both.

Limiting food intake before a night of drinking, says Carrie Wilkens, a psychologist and addiction expert, can cause severe health problems for young women. Liver failure, malnutrition, impaired judgment, dehydration and sexual victimization, to name just a few. More to the point, Dr. Felicia Greher of the University of Colorado Counseling and Psychological Services, says, "It's extremely dangerous."

Without the buffer of food to slow the absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream, alcohol's intoxicating effect is more immediate. Because women digest alcohol differently from men, their bodies hold fat differently, making alcohol dependence and abuse more likely. Women are also more prone to blackouts, and at more risk of sexual abuse. In the long-term, they are at greater risk of alcoholism and cirrhosis.

It's been estimated by physicians from the Center for Motivation and Change that two years of a woman drinking equals 10 years of a man drinking as far as its effect on the body.

Instead of, "How can I moderate my drinking to avoid unnecessary weight gain," the question for many young women has become, "How can I drink more while avoiding weight gain." Giving up food for an addictive drug like alcohol is a reckless choice.

Dr. Tamara Pryor, clinical director of the Eating Disorder Center, correctly notes, "Alcohol has become the No. 1 health concern facing college campuses."

The only winner from this dietary choice is the alcohol industry -- like the tobacco industry, they profit economically from our foolish choices.

How many more destructive ways will we abide the abuse of alcohol on the UNC campus before responsible adults take action? At a time when the nation is focused on health care, what are you doing to prevent underage drinking?

Ronald E. Bogle is a retired Superior Court judge and works with the Coalition for Alcohol and Drug Free Teenagers.