The Checkup: New Report Finds One in Eight U.S. Women Binge Drinks
• Eeek. Did you know having four or more alcoholic drinks in one sitting qualifies as binge drinking? That’s according to the CDC, which just released an updated report on women and binge drinking and found that one in eight of us binge drinks—super scary, considering that excessive drinking is responsible for 23,000 deaths among women and girls in our country each year. And it gets even scarier when you take a closer look: According to the data, 27 percent of girls who are high-school seniors say they binge drink, and same goes for 13 percent of ninth graders. Overall, we ladies are over-imibing an average of 3.2 times per month, with nearly six (!!!!) drinks per binging episode. If you’re not thoroughly terrified yet (what’s wrong with you, anyway?), head over to ABC News for more scary stats.
• Heads up, those of you who say you’re “addicted” to diet soda (true story: my husband’s college roommate made this very claim about Diet Coke): the stuff’s been linked to depression in older adults in a new study. Read more over on HealthDay.
• Here’s a fun fact for your Wednesday: breast milk contains more than 700 kinds of bacteria—and that’s a good thing. The bacteria helps determine the composition of baby’s bacterial digestive juices, and may play a role in immune system development. Breast milk from overweight mothers, moms who put on too much weight during pregnancy, and moms who undergo scheduled C-sections had less bacteria in their breast milk than other moms in a new study. Check it out here.