There is evidence that heavy episodic (binge) drinking, which results in exposure of tissues to high levels of alcohol, is particularly harmful81, 87, 88. Binge drinking is generally defined as a man consuming 5 standard drinks within 2 hours; women are typically smaller and have a lower percentage of body water, so 4 standard drinks can reach similar alcohol levels. A standard drink is defined in the US as 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of spirits, all of which approximate 14 g of pure ethanol). The strong effects of binge drinking suggest that merely calculating an average number of drinks per week is likely to obscure many effects of alcohol, since it treats 2 standard drinks per day (14 per week) the same as 7 drinks on each of two days per week.
