New High School Danger: Extreme Binge Drinking - East Idaho News

New High School Danger: Extreme Binge Drinking

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GETTY H 082012 beers?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1379407262854Hemera/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Parents not only have to worry about their high school-age kids drinking or even binge drinking alcoholic beverages.  They have to be concerned their youngsters are extreme binge drinking.

That’s the term health officials are giving to the practice of drinking anywhere from 10 to 15 drinks or even more in one session.

Extreme binge drinking is not that uncommon, according to researchers at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, which conducted a study of the practice.

Lead author Megan Patrick says that at least one-in-ten high school students have slammed down 10 drinks in one sitting while 5.6 percent admit to downing 15 or more drinks.

The only positive finding the study made is that binge drinking has decreased from 22 percent in 2005 to 18.1 percent in 2011, although the incidence of extreme binge drinking has remained about the same.

There are plenty of reasons why binge drinking is considered dangerous behavior since it can result in physical injuries, alcohol poisoning, liver damage, drunk driving and unsafe sex, and alter brain development.

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