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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Alcohol affects health of men, women differently
Medical studies suggest moderate drinking, usually defined as no more than one drink per day for women and two for men, leads to longer lives. So, why are women told to drink so much less than men?
Breast cancer, for one thing. In epidemiological studies, a J-shaped curve shows moderate alcohol consumption is beneficial while heavy drinking is bad. But it doesn't apply to every ailment. Even moderate alcohol consumption seems to increase the risk of cirrhosis of the liver, hypertension and many forms of cancer.
Most problematic among these is breast cancer. This year, 22,700 Canadian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 5,100 will die of it.
(Read more: http://www.cancer.ca/canada-wide/about cancer/cancer statistics/stats at a glance/breast cancer.aspx#ixzz29mTM50Na).
Some studies have suggested even moderate drinking increases a woman's lifetime risk of developing breast cancer by 50 to 100 per cent. Men have a comparatively tiny risk of developing the disease. Many doctors feel this difference alone is sufficient to justify gender-based alcohol consumption recommendations.
In most studies that show the benefits of moderate imbibing, the positive outcomes disappear at lower doses for women than for men. Two drinks a day might decrease a man's risk of diabetes, heart disease or death, for example, but it has the opposite effect on the average woman. The difference holds even when researchers control for weight.
Doctors are trying to figure out why women tolerate alcohol differently than men. One theory is that since women's bodies contain less water per pound than men's, the same amount of alcohol will result in a higher concentration in the blood. In addition, a stomach enzyme that metabolizes alcohol seems to work less efficiently in women, so more of the alcohol women consume goes directly into the bloodstream. Some researchers also believe estrogen interacts with alcohol in a way that enhances the likelihood of liver damage. There are indications hormonal changes that occur during the menstrual cycle also affect alcohol metabolism, but this observation remains controversial.
The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council recommends men drink no more than four servings of alcohol per day, a higher limit than in other English-speaking countries, but agreed that women should stick to two servings or fewer.
-- Slate
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 20, 2012 B4
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