(August 13, 2009 - Insidermedicine) Binge drinking among young, healthy university students can significantly impact attention and memory, according to research published in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

Binge drinking has been linked with many health problems, including:

•    Unintentional injuries, such as car crashes

•    Intentional injuries, such as domestic violence

•    Alcohol poisoning

Researchers from the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain used event-related potential (ERP) to test the electrophysiological brain responses of 95 university students while they completed certain tasks. 42 students were binge drinkers and 53 acted as controls.

The part of the brain responsible for maintaining attention had to work harder in binge drinkers than non-binge drinkers, although both groups were able to accomplish the task equally well. Binge drinkers also had greater difficulty differentiating between relevant and irrelevant stimuli, and it appeared their brains did not use memory and attention abilities as efficiently as those who did not binge drink.

Today’s research demonstrates how binge drinking as little as once or twice a week can impact the brain functioning of young, healthy adults.

For Insidermedicine in Depth, I'm Dr. Susan Sharma.