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Women Drink Men Under the Table

'Anything you can do I can do better' gets a heart transplant

by Daiana Feuer
Posted May 16th, 6:00am | Science/Health

Women's lib got us into the work force, into college and gave us more purchasing power. Unfortunately, freedom to do like the boys has led to a rise in alcoholism among females. Compared with women born in 1944 through 1953, those born between 1954 and 1963 are "much more apt to drink alcohol" and those who drink have "a higher risk of alcohol dependence," according to a recent report by Dr. Richard A. Grucza and his colleagues at Washington University School of Medicine. Men continue to honor their forefathers, or they're reluctant to change, drinking no more or less than the older generation.
 
While the gap is closing between the genders in alcoholism, women suffer worse effects from drinking than men (because we're made of flowers and they're made of hmmm, hot dogs?). "Women with alcohol problems face more severe health-related consequences and possibly more years of life lost than their male counterparts," Grucza reports.

A study of alcohol effects by Dr. Azra Mahmud of St. James Hospital in Dublin provides further evidence that women can't hang with the bad boys when it comes to boozing. Heavy drinking leads to high blood pressure, stiff arteries and rigid heart muscles in men but it causes enlarged hearts in women, which is worse, increasing our vulnerability to heart attack and stroke. "Basically, women are not able to cope with high alcohol consumption, Mahmud says. "It is going directly to the heart and damaging it."

Mahmud's advice? Take it easy. Moderate drinking has heart benefits, and (I add) makes dancing more fun, but "heavy drinking counteracts these benefits and can cause serious harm," not to mention an awful morning-after.

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