binge drinking
Study Finds Binge Drinking Linked to Stroke
It is well-known that binge drinking puts a person at risk of accident, brain damage and even death. Now, one report has also linked this dangerous activity to increasing the risk of stroke in men.
UPI Health News reported the findings of a recent study completed in South Korea. This study identified male binge drinkers as those who drank six or more servings of alcohol on one occasion, and women consuming four or more servings. Most of the alcohol consumed as soju, a native Korean distilled liquor similar to vodka that offers a 25 percent alcohol by volume.
“The proportion of Korean adults who drink alcohol is among the world’s highest and heavy drinking is also high,” senior researcher Dr. Heechoul Ohrr of Yonsei University College of Medicine, in Seoul, said in a statement. “About 46 percent of Korean men and 9 percent of Korean women are considered heavy drinkers.”
In this study, researchers examined the association between binge drinking and risks of death from all causes. The instance of a stroke received special attention for those 6,000+ citizens age 55 and older living in the agricultural community. These individuals were tracked for 20 years.
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Higher Drinking Age Has Led to Less Binge Drinking, Except Among College Students
New research has found substantial reductions in binge drinking since the national drinking age was raised to 21 two decades ago, but there is one exception: college students. The rate of binge drinking in male college students remain the same, but the rate of drinking in female students has increased dramatically.
Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis say that although policy initiatives aimed at lowering underage drinking have generally been successful and that binge drinking is down among young people overall, it remains a problem on college campuses.
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College Drinking Problem Continues to Rise
The consumption of alcoholic beverages is considered by some to be synonymous with the college experience. For some however, it becomes a serious problem. In fact, a new government study has shown that alcohol-related deaths, heavy drinking episodes and drunk driving have all been on the rise on college campuses.
According to a Science Daily release, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has determined that the number of drinking-related accidental deaths among 18- to 24-year old students has been increasing.
The NIAA used figures from government databases and national surveys on alcohol use and found that these deaths increased from 1,440 in 1998 to 1,825 in 2005. At the same time, the proportion of students reporting recent binge drinking rose from 42 percent to 45 percent. Drunk driving also rose from 26.5 percent to 29 percent.
Allowing Children to Drink Can Lead to Binge Drinking
Legal drinking ages are as varied as the states and countries that impose them. In the United Kingdom, you can legally give alcohol to any child over 5 years old, but you cannot purchase alcohol until you are 16 (for beer, wine, or cider) or 18 (for hard liquor). In Spain, you must be 14 to drink alcohol and 16 to purchase it; in Italy and Greece, there is no age limit for drinking alcohol but you must be 16 or 17, respectively, to buy it. In Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran, it is completely illegal to drink or purchase alcohol, and offenders are punished with lashes. And in some states in India, one cannot drink or purchase alcohol until the age of 25.
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