Conference Links Food, Drugs, Drinking

N E W   Y O R K, Jan. 24 -- Imagine holding an alcohol detox program in a bar. It would be pretty hard to resist the temptation to drink, right?

Unfortunately, that's the situation many people with eating disorders find themselves in when trying to lick a substance abuse problem. Surrounded by vending machines and encouraged to participate in meals that celebrate sobriety, these patients' recovery is often hindered by the availability of seemingly harmless treats that offer solace to other substance abusers.

There are more than 5 million Americans — mostly women — who suffer from eating disorders, such as bulimia, which is characterized by compulsive bingeing and purging. Of those, experts estimate about half also have a substance abuse problem. Although the link between the two is still unclear, some scientists believe there is a connection and that ignoring it makes it impossible for sufferers to recover.

"We know bulimics are more likely to have substance abuse issues than anorexics," Dr. Steven Hyman, director of the National Institutes of Mental Health, told physicians, nutritionists and substance abuse experts at a conference earlier this week at the National Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University in New York. "What we don't know well is the order, or what caused what. There are shared risk factors, but we need more information."

Hyman suspects the two may originate in the same area of the brain, saying, "Both are in part disorders of learning."

Firsthand Knowledge

Karen Eklund, a recovering alcoholic and bulimic, understands the relationship between food and alcohol issues. Sober and abstinent from bulimia for more than 17 years, Eklund works as an in-patient counselor at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif. "If the eating disorder is severe, [the alcoholic] will never get sober," she says.

While she did eventually seek treatment for her alcoholism, her struggle with keeping down food remained a secret. After about a year of sobriety, however, Ecklund could no longer sustain her habit of throwing up 40 times a day and sought treatment for bulimia as well. She says she is grateful she survived, but worries that other women won't if experts — from both the eating disorder and substance abuse fields — don't become conscious that these two problems often co-exist and that they present unique treatment problems.