Binge drinking is widespread among British men and women throughout their 20s, 30s, and into their 40s, new research shows (Addiction 2005;100:543-9). And those who binge drink in their early 20s are more likely to be binge drinking 26 years later: the risk is twofold for men and 1.5-fold for women.

Men who drank more than seven units a week at the age of 16 were one and a half times more likely than light drinkers to binge drink in their 30s …