Alcohol and Women
Alcohol presents another health risk for women. A small amount of alcohol can affect women in a different way compared to men. It is riskier for women to drink heavier than men. There are no proper ways and amount to drink alcohol. This is because women’s body differ from one another. With this having been said, the important thing here to consider is the safety and health risk cause by alcohol in women.
In US, 60% of the women drink a minimum of one glass of alcohol a year. With these women, 13 % have at least seven drinks a week. This is in fact above the suggested drinking limit for women based on the Guidelines about Dietary for Americans. The Guidelines classify average drinking as at most one drink per day for women. Beyond this limit, a woman has high risk to high blood pressure, motor vehicle crashes, other injuries, stroke, violence, cancer and even suicide.
It is also not advisable to some people to drink under the age of 21. Also, pregnant or nursing women, women under medications, and people in activities that need skill, attention or coordination shouldn’t drink.
Women have lower recommended drinking limits than men because they are more prone to developing alcohol-related issues and problems and become dependent to alcohol. The water composition of a woman’s body is lower than that of a man. Thus, if alcohol passes into the body’s digestive tract of a woman, it will not fully be dispense in the body’s water. Therefore, the internal organs of a woman are more exposed to alcohol and other toxic byproducts resulting from the breakdown of alcohol.
Drinking moderately has both long and short term health risks and benefits. The positive effect of moderate drinking is it may lessen the threat of heart or coronary disease especially to women ages 55 and older. However, drinking too much can in fact injure the heart. Average drinking can also affects a woman’s skill in driving especially if a woman drunk with an empty stomach. Alcohol can also interact with some medications. It may lower the efficiency of the drug, boost the sedative of a drug and thereby cause side effects such as depression and anxiety.
To some women particularly on postmenopausal period or those with family record of having breast cancer, only a glass of alcohol a day somewhat increase the threat of having breast cancer.
