Brain scans of Americans after a night of legally drinking alcohol on their 21st birthday reveal the dangers on binge drinking.

'Results from this study suggest that a single extreme drinking episode is enough to alter the brain morphometry of emerging adults a couple days after the drinking episode,' the researchers wrote in the study published in the journal Alcohol Clinical Experimental Research.

Brain scans of Americans after a night of legally indulging in alcohol on their 21st birthday reveal the dangers on binge drinking.

The team recruited 52 students for the study, all of which had MRI scans taken 11 days before their 21st birthday, another about four days after and some participated in a third scan five weeks later.

Binge drinking is most common among adults aged 18-34, but more than half of the total binge drinks are consumed by those aged 35 and older.

'We found evidence that a single extreme drinking episode was associated with structural changes immediately post-birthday celebration,' the authors wrote in the study.

'This extreme drinking episode was not associated with further structural changes, or recovery, 5 weeks post-twenty-first birthday celebration.'.

While overall rates of binge drinking fell from 18.9 percent in 2011 to 18.0 percent in 2017, the number of actual drinks increased

Binge drinkers consumed an average of 593 drinks in 2017 during binging episodes - a more than 25 percent increase in 2011