Binge drinking linked with hemorrhagic stroke in Korean men

According to a South Korean study published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, frequent binge drinking – having 6 or more alcoholic drinks at one occasion, at lease once a week – by Korean men was associated with a dramatic increase in hemorrhagic stroke.

Some of the limitations of the study are that the data on drinking was obtained by self-reported questionnaires, the population was agricultural and may not represent the entire population and the validity of stroke diagnosis on death certificates was not examined separately.

Researchers said the findings need to be confirmed in other further studies and it is unclear whether the results can be generalized to other populations.

The American Heart Association advises that if you drink alcohol, do so in moderation — no more than two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women. The association defines a drink as one 12-ounce beer, one 4-ounce glass of wine, 1.5 ounces of 80-proof spirits or 1 ounce of 100-proof spirits.