Beer bingeing can kill you, Finnish doctors say

LONDON (Reuter) Beer bingeing can cause more than a painful hangover, a
team of Finnish doctors said Friday. It can kill.

After studying the drinking habits of more than 1,640 men, researchers at
the University of Kuopio in Finland discovered that how a person drinks is
as much of a health risk as the amount consumed.

Bingeing, which the study defined as consuming more than six bottles or
more of beer in a session, increased the risk of injury, poisoning,
violence and heart attacks, particularly among middleaged men, they said.

``The risk of death was substantially increased in men whose usual dose of
beer was six or more bottles per session compared with men who usually
consumed less than three bottles, after adjustment for age and total
alcohol consumption,'' Jussi Kauhanen said in the British Medical Journal.

``The pattern of beer bingeing is associated with increased risk of death,
independently of the total average consumption of alcoholic drinks.''

Kauhanen said the results of the study suggest that a heavy intake of beer
could increase heart attacks by triggering irregular heart beats or blood
clots.

Most health advisories suggest weekly limits on alcohol. Kauhanen called
for more studies examining how people reach, exceed or keep within those
limits.

``Our findings show that it is equally important to examine carefully the
relation between drinking patterns especially heavy intake and health
outcome,'' he added.

The article did not quantify the volume of bottles used in the study.

^REUTER@