Women Face Higher Risks of Alcohol Effects Than Men

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Alcohol carries risks, especially for women, as it affects men and women in different ways. According to the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), women are at a higher risk for certain serious health consequences of alcohol use, including liver, brain, and heart damage than men.

As quoted from Verywell Mind, women absorb more alcohol than men after drinking the same amount of alcohol. This means they are more vulnerable to alcohol-related consequences. Experts believe this is due to differences in gender, metabolism, and brain chemistry. But there may also be other factors that are currently unknown.

Alcohol misuse presents a serious public health concern. However, women are more likely to become intoxicated even though they consume the same amount of alcohol as men. Here are four alcohol-related problems for which women are at higher risk than men.

1. Prenatal exposure to alcohol

Alcohol use during pregnancy can cause physical, behavioral, and cognitive problems in children, that can be components of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). There is no safe level of alcohol consumption for pregnant women.

2. Liver damage

Women develop alcohol-induced liver disease sooner and at a lower drinking rate than men. An NIAAA report also shows that women are more likely than men to have alcoholic hepatitis and to die from cirrhosis.

3. Brain damage

Alcohol-related brain damage may affect women more than men. Researchers found that when compared to both nonalcoholic women and alcoholic men, a brain region involved in coordinating multiple brain functions was significantly smaller among alcoholic women.

4. Breast cancer

Many NIAAA studies note that moderate to heavy alcohol consumption increases the risk of breast cancer. Consuming one drink per day increases a woman's risk of breast cancer by 5% to 9% compared to those who do not drink at all. This risk increases with each additional drink they have per day.

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