Other risk factors for
binge drinking include age and gender.
At the same time that college
binge drinking has made it into the spotlight as a national concern (U.S.
Unfortunately, the literature has not been clear on the long-term impact of
binge drinking in pregnancy.
Lead scientist Dr Toni Pak, from Loyola University in Chicago, said: "Adolescent
binge drinking not only is dangerous to the brain development of teenagers, but also may impact the brains of their children."
The authors' conclusions send important messages to drinkers:
binge drinking is a risk factor for strokes.
The researchers also found a wide variance in drinking rates among counties--from the lowest rate of
binge drinking, 5.9 percent, in Madison County, Idaho to a high of 36 percent in Menominee County, Wisconsin.
Calderdale Council's Director of Public Health, Paul Butcher said: "is is a worrying trend and I'd like to warn all parents and young people to be alert to the dangers of
binge drinking. Fortunately there have been very few serious cases across the country as most people recognise that this is a very risky game which can have life threatening consequences."
Health experts in the UK have been warning for years about the soaring rate of
binge drinking among the middle aged and elderly.
Binge drinking has also been linked in recent research to damage to the muscle of the heart, increased incidence of insomnia in older adults, inflammation, lasting liver damage, and heightened risk for alcohol addiction, all of which may negatively impact the brain.
"We have seen evidence that
binge drinking is associated with reduced integrity in the white matter, the brain's highways that communicate neuron messaging, but alcohol may affect the grey matter differently than the white matter," he says.
Binge drinking, the most dangerous form of alcohol consumption, is an underrecognized health risk for women, according to a federal report that showed one in eight U.S.
Among those teens who reported frequent
binge drinking, only 21% were advised to cut back or stop.