Binge Drinking

The Penn State Live website this week reported on new “early intervention” research conducted by their own scholars that may help students from becoming binge drinkers.

The first issue of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2012’s Vital Signs includes the latest findings on binge drinking from the 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) which included combined landline and cellular telephone respondents.

Communities with a large concentration of bars and liquor stores pose a risk to both young people and adults, increasing the likelihood for violence or alcohol-impaired driving. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Community Guide to Preventive Services has endorsed reducing alcohol outlet density as an effective strategy for reducing alcohol-related harms. CADCA member, the Talbot Partnership for Alcohol & Other Drug Abuse Prevention, in Maryland, has formed strategic community partnerships that have effectively reduced alcohol outlet density at the local level, proving that people have the power to make their neighborhoods healthier and safer.

Alcohol Justice, formerly Marin Institute, in California, has asked for health advocates to make public comments against Phusion Projects, makers of the infamous Four Loko beverages, and its proposed agreement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to discontinue marketing its new “supersized,” re-sealable containers.

The cost of excessive alcohol consumption in the United States in 2006 reached $223.5 billion or about $1.90 per drink, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Based on just two questions from a newly released guide, health care professionals could spot children and teenagers at risk for alcohol-related problems. “Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention for Youth: A Practitioner's Guide,” is now available from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health.

Physicians often fail to counsel their young adult patients about excessive alcohol use, according to a study led by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health.

College students who post references to getting drunk, blacking out, or other aspects of dangerous drinking on social networking sites are more likely to have clinically significant alcohol problems than students who do not post such references, according to a study supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

A new publication, “Strategizer 55—Regulating Alcohol Outlet Density: An Action Guide,” outlines available evidence-based community prevention strategies shown to decrease the consequences associated with alcohol outlet density, the concentration of bars, restaurants serving alcohol, liquor and package stores in a given geographic area.

About 70 percent of U.S. high school students don't get enough sleep on school nights and this is linked to health-risk behaviors, according to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Violent crime could be reduced significantly if policymakers at the local level limit the number of neighborhood liquor stores and ban the sale of single-serve containers of alcoholic beverages, according to separate studies led by University of California, Riverside researchers.

While the popular tourist destination of Wildwood, N.J. is known for its beaches and fun, carnival-like atmosphere, locals say this party-like scene can create a number of alcohol-related problems. Thankfully, the Cape Assist coalition is there to help prevent and reduce these types of problems.