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.

Read what every woman needs to know about alcohol.

Drinking more than three glasses of wine a day could increase your risk of developing breast cancer

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.

In a large glass of wine there are almost 200 calories

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.

Some experts believe that drinking more than a glass of wine a day may reduce your chances of conceiving

Three reasons women can't drink like men

First, women are smaller on average than men, so there's less of us all round to absorb the alcohol.
Second, 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.
Lastly, 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.

Hormones and the pill

For 2 or 3 days before a period and during ovulation, you will feel the effects of alcohol more quickly. The pill has the opposite effect, delaying the absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream and delaying the time it takes to leave your body. If you're on the pill, you won't be as aware of the effect of alcohol and so may drink more than you realise.

Drinking more than a glass of wine a day may reduce your chances of getting pregnant

Studies have shown that women who drink lots are less likely to achieve pregnancy. This has been supported by a recent study reported by the British Medical Journal. It suggested that as few as five or less drinks every week would decrease a woman's chance of becoming pregnant.

The general advice is, if you want to conceive, avoid alcohol completely.

Drinking while pregnant can harm the unborn child

Any alcohol in mum's blood will cross the placenta and get into the foetus' bloodstream too.

Pregnant women or women trying to conceive should avoid drinking alcohol. If they do choose to drink, to minimise the risk to the baby, they should not drink more than 1 to 2 units of alcohol once or twice a week and should not get drunk.

Alcohol, weight gain and nutrition

There are almost 200 calories in a large glass of red wine!

At 7 calories per gram, alcohol is stuffed with more calories than many foods. That's just for the alcohol content, mind you – any sugar in drinks comes on top of that.

Added to this, alcohol stimulates our appetite but reduces our self-control, making it easy to eat too much – so drinking could be a much greater source of weight gain than you suspected.

Someone who drinks heavily may be over-weight and yet malnourished, replacing food with alcohol. What's more, once alcohol has damaged the liver, the body can't process the food we eat properly. This means less essential nutrients for our bodies to use.

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