Amy Winehouse‘s older brother Alex Winehouse says drug and alcohol abuse took their toll on the late singer, but she ultimately died from bulimia. Winehouse told Observer Magazine that his sister, who died in July 2011 at age 27, “would have died anyway, the way she was going” but he believes that her eating disorder “left her weaker and more susceptible.” An inquest into Winehouse’s death showed that she had five times the legal drink-drive limit of alcohol in her system, which was enough to make her comatose and depress her respiratory system. “What really killed her was the bulimia,” claims her brother. “Had she not have had an eating disorder, she would have been physically stronger.” He says that the singer’s eating disorder began at age 17 and was spurred on by a group of friends who also binged and purged. But while her friends eventually recovered, “Amy never really stopped,” he recalls, “We all knew she was doing it but it’s almost impossible [to tackle], especially if you’re not talking about it.” Winehouse now helps run the Amy Winehouse Foundation with their father Mitch Winehouse. The charity recently donated to Beat, the world’s largest eating disorders charity, to help it continue running an internet forum with a chat moderator. “We had to support eating disorder charities because no one talks about it,” says Alex. “I just want to try to raise awareness of bulimia. It’s a real dark, dark issue.” According to the National Institute for Health Care and Excellence, 1.6 million people in the UK are affected by an eating disorder, 40% of whom suffer from bulimia.