Women and Alcohol

There are important differences in the way women's bodies react to alcohol compared with men. Being aware of what those differences are could literally save your life.

Why the fuss about women's drinking?

There's been quite a lot of public attention recently about women's drinking habits. This isn't just the result of any negative attitudes some members of society might have about women having fun on their own terms - there are serious reasons for this concern.

Women are drinking more than ever

In 2002, women's average weekly consumption was 45% higher than in 1992. We just can't blame teenagers or the unemployed either. Other research has shown that women working full-time in professional or management posts are most likely to develop a problem with their drinking.

Three reasons women can't drink like men

1. Women are smaller on average than men, so there's less of us all round to absorb the alcohol.
2. Women have on average 10% more fat than men (hence the feminine curves), this means there's less body fluid to dilute alcohol, so it travels around women's bodies in more concentrated form and causes more harm.
3. Women's livers produce less of the substance the body uses to break alcohol down (an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase). This means women not only get drunk quicker but the effects last longer.

This is why there are different sensible limits for women and men's drinking.

Alcohol poses greater risk of liver disease to women

As well as being smaller and producing less of the chemical that neutralises alcohol, women's livers can't repair themselves so quickly as men's when damaged. This means that it takes women longer to recover from the damage caused by a heavy session.

Unfortunately, women's drinks come in the same measures as the ones guys order so if we try to keep up with the lads, we're looking at more health troubles in the future than they'll encounter.

Drinking increases the risk of breast cancer

As many as 500 new cases of breast cancer each year could be directly caused by drink. According to the world's largest study of women's drinking behaviour, the risk of breast cancer increases by 6% for every extra alcoholic drink you drink every day over the sensible limit. Why this is we don't yet know but scientists are clear that the link between breast cancer and alcohol does exist.

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