London, Mar 3 (IANS): One-fifth of young adults forget to use contraception at the height of passion because they are too drunk to remember when having sex, says a study.

The study, commissioned by OnePoll with 1,200 participants aged between 16-25 years, indicates that many youngsters are taking unforeseen risks due to a lack of knowledge, education and intoxication.

The study showed that four in 10 have had sex during a night of drinking alcohol, while 13 per cent have had intercourse and not remembered the following day whether they had used protection or not, reports The Sun.

"We need to arm our young people with as much information as possible before they get to the point where they are experimenting with sex and drink," said Joanna Buckard, a spokeswoman for The National Organisation for FASD (Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder) in the UK.

"It would seem that while sex education in schools covers broad topics such as the mechanics of having sex and what happens to your body through puberty, we are still failing our young people by not going into more detail about the consequences of certain behaviours," Buckard added.

This risk-taking behaviour appears to be down to a staggering lack of knowledge though -- with only 15 per cent being taught about alcohol in pregnancy at school and 16 per cent learning about the impact of binge drinking, the report said.

The study also found half of all young adults find it hugely embarrassing talking about things such as sex, drinking during pregnancy and sexuality.

This means four in 10 refuse to talk to their parents about such 'taboo topics' -- largely because they aren't comfortable having the conversation (33 per cent), don't talk about sex in their family (25 per cent), and don't want them to know what they are doing (24 per cent).