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Brief Description:

Experts say that most heavy drinking occurs in young people. And heavy drinking increases risks.

Transcript:

Balintfy: Experts say that most heavy drinking occurs in young people. And heavy drinking increases risks.

Willenbring: We really would like to see fewer people getting hurt due to their drinking during spring break.

Balintfy: Dr. Mark Willenbring is the Director of the Treatment and Recovery Research Division in the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Willenbring: There's an increasing number of young adults and adolescents who are dying of alcohol poisoning. And some of the most dangerous things are things like drinking games.

Balintfy: The concern is binge drinking.

Willenbring: A binge is about five drinks in a two-hour period. Five drinks in a two-hour period bring you to, the average adult, up to the level of being legally drunk.

Balintfy: Dr. Willenbring recommends that men drink no more than four drinks a day, or 14 in a week, and women drink no more than three drinks a day, or seven in a week. But he also warns that people should know what exactly one drink is:

Willenbring: Like a lot of people think that beer is better than other beverages and it's just a matter of how much you drink. So if you drink 12-ounces of beer it's the same as a shot of whisky. Also mixed drinks can often contain more than one shot. And shots sometimes aren't measured very precisely.

Balintfy: The standard measures for one drink are: 12 ounces of beer, five ounces of wine, or one-and-a-half ounces of hard liquor; each have the same alcohol content. For more information visit www.niaaa.nih.gov. This is Joe Balintfy, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.