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Gender Makes a Big Difference When Consuming Alcohol

The argument that there is no difference between men and women often does not hold water. Sure, educational ability and mental capacity are often gender neutral, but the impact of liquor intake is not. According to a Fox News piece, alcohol can take a greater toll on women than men, physically, mentally and socially. Women can become intoxicated more quickly than men and do not absorb and metabolize alcohol the same way. Women also have less water in their bodies and therefore the alcohol they consume is more concentrated. Age can also be a factor for women. As they get older, alcohol consumption will have an even greater impact on women than it did when they were younger. As a women ages, the amount of water in the body decreases, making it harder to metabolize alcohol. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), the differences in the genders in relation to alcohol consumption are significant and should be considered before consuming alcohol. Consider the following: • A women’s health is much more likely to be damaged by drinking than a man’s, even if the amount of alcohol is less than that of the man’s for a shorter amount of time; • Women who suffer from alcoholism die 50 percent to 100 percent more often than alcoholic men. These deaths include those from suicide, brain diseases, alcohol-related accidents, heart disease, cancer, stroke and liver disease; • When drinking heavily, a woman’s risk for sexual assault and other acts of violence rises. Teenage girls engaging in alcoholic drinking raise their risk for unplanned sex and pregnancy; • Alcohol consumption while pregnant puts unnecessary risk on the baby for fetal alcohol syndrome, which can cause problems with learning, memory, attention and problem-solving in the growing child.

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