We are 'Beer City', but maybe we need to back off a little. Kent County was third in the state when it comes to binge and heavy drinking.

Those of us that went to Central won't be too surprised at who's number one.

A new survey released by the County Health Rankings, a national non-profit organization, shows that Kent County has the third highest rate of binge drinking and heavy drinking in the State of Michigan.

The study revealed that 22 percent of Kent residents admitted to having five or more drinks at one sitting (binge drinking) or having more than two drinks a day (heavy drinking) within a thirty day period. Those stats are for men, for women it's four drinks at a time, or more than one per day.

Ron Gerelli/Express/Getty Images
Ron Gerelli/Express/Getty Images
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While that seems like a low bar for drinking, the repeated habit over time can become problematic. And the fact people are self reporting large numbers like this, may mean the actual rate is higher.

Isabella County, home of Mt. Pleasant and Central Michigan University, tied for first with Livingston County (between Detroit and Lansing) for the highest rate in the state with 23 percent of adults admitting to a problem.

Ottawa County was close behind with a 21 percent reported rate of heavy drinking.

Michigan as a whole reported a twenty percent rate of heavy drinking per month.

The Centers for Disease Control say that about 80,000 deaths per year in American are the result of excessive drinking.

 

 

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