What Women Should Know About Alcohol

Men have higher rates of alcohol-related hospitalizations and deaths than women do, but unfortunately these statistics overshadow alcohol’s disease effects on women: Illnesses associated with alcohol use claim more lives of women than of men. Women who drink alcohol face a higher risk of alcohol-related problems than men do because women, on average, weigh less and have less water in their bodies than men, so their blood alcohol concentration will be higher after the same number of drinks. Because most women do not metabolize alcohol as quickly as men do, they also are more susceptible to long-term health problems. The risk of alcohol-related liver disease, brain shrinkage, heart damage, and breast and other cancers are all greater for women, even if they consume less alcohol over a lifetime than men. Learn more from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

9/5/2022