Binge drinking, high blood pressure a lethal combo

"It's no secret that high blood pressure increases your risk of heart disease and stroke. Nor should it come as a surprise that binge drinking isn't the healthiest habit. But a new study suggests that combining the two may add up to double the trouble - and much more, in some cases. Compared to teetotalers with normal blood pressure, men with high blood pressure (hypertension) who even occasionally down more than six drinks in one sitting have nearly double the risk of dying from a stroke or heart attack, according to the study, which followed 6,100 South Koreans age 55 and up for two decades. If men with high blood pressure have 12 drinks or more at one time, their risk is nearly five times higher, the study found. 'Somehow the binge drinking compounds [high blood pressure] - and more than just a little bit,' says Brian Silver, MD, a neurologist at Henry Ford Hospital, in Detroit, and a spokesman for the American Heart Association"