Doctor’s Orders: Dec. 12, 2005

DRINK UP, BUT DON’T GET DRUNK A study in Epidemiology found that middle-age adults who binge drink–about five beers in a sitting–once a month triple their risk of dementia in their senior years.

BEFRIEND A BATHROOM SCALE Hop on that scale: dieters who weigh themselves daily lose more weight than those who don’t, reports a yearlong study in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine. 51% Percentage of acute liver-failure cases linked to overdoses of the pain reliever acetaminophen; half the poisonings were accidental.

TOO MUCH JUNK IN THE TRUNK In an Irish study of 50 patients, two-thirds were so overweight that standard needles could not reach the muscle tissue in their rears through the fat.