Alcohol poisoning has become one of the leading preventable causes of death

the Oncology Nurse Advisor take:

According to new research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), six people die each day from alcohol poisoning or 2,221 people per year in the United States.

The CDC calls that figure a conservative estimate that makes it one of the leading preventable causes of death. The CDC called the population that is dying from alcohol poisoning a surprise. Rather than being college students that die from a night of binge drinking, white men between the ages of 35 and 64 die most often as a result of alcohol poisoning.

Binge drinking means consuming five or more alcoholic beverages in two to three hours for men and four or more drinks in the same period for women. Moderate consumption of alcohol, however, has some benefits, particularly on the cardiovascular system.

Moderate drinking means consuming up to two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women. Heavy drinking has been associated with an increased risk for developing certain types of cancers, such as liver and head and neck cancer.