BIG DRINKERS' BIGGER RISK OF EARLY STROKE

HEAVY drinkers are more likely to suffer more severe strokes at an earlier age than lighter drinkers, Massachusetts General Brigham and Harvard Medical School researchers found.

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They discovered that people who regularly consumed three or more alcoholic drinks a day were more likely to experience intracerebral hemorrhage, a severe type of stroke caused by bleeding in the brain, and at a younger age than people who drank less.

Boozehounds were more likely to have the bleeding strokes 11 years earlier than non-heavy drinkers. They also had 70 percent larger bleeds and nearly twice the risk of deep brain bleeds.