By Staff Reports
(Hawaii)– From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.
Binge drinking is not just a guy thing. Women and girls do it, too. For women, four or more drinks in a short period is a binge. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Bob Brewer says, though, that women who binge tend to drink more than that – on average, six drinks at a time – and may binge three times, on average, in a month.
Brewer also says bingeing continues:
“It actually is a big problem across the lifespan. It isn’t just a problem with high school girls or college-age women. In fact, it continues well into middle age and beyond.”
Binge drinking increases the chances of breast cancer, heart disease and many other health problems. Drinking at all during pregnancy can lead to sudden infant death syndrome and fetal alcohol disorder in the child.
Learn more at healthfinder.gov.
HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.