Science Uncovers New Reasons Why Women and Alcohol Shouldn’t Mix
There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a drink every now and then – in fact, even though more research is needed on this subject, there is some evidence to suggest that one glass of red wine per day may reduce cardiovascular disease risks. However, there’s also a lot to be said about the risks of alcohol, both for one’s health and for the safety of others. For one thing, yes, men are more likely to commit DUIs than women (according to http://www.sr22insurance.com/, the demographic with the highest drunk driving risk is that of white or Hispanic males, aged 25 to 44), but women are also ‘well-represented’ among the four million adult Americans who drink and drive each year. But there are other ways in which men and women are different, when it comes to alcohol consumption. New research on drinking during pregnancy indicates that the percentage of women who do it is rather high – and also that women who had the habit of drinking before getting pregnant are more likely to indulge in risky behaviors while with child. Finally, women simply cannot carry their alcohol as well as men, studies have shown, and it’s not just an issue of weight and body mass, but one of very serious health risks. Read on, to learn how women are affected by drinking.
Alcohol and pregnancy definitely shouldn’t mix
According to a study published in late April 2013 and authored by researchers from the San Diego Department of Pediatrics at the University of California, there’s a link between remembering to take your multivitamins during pregnancy and alcohol consumption in women. The study looked at data collected from over 100,000 women, between 2004 and 2008. The women’s responses showed that women who had a high incidence of binge drinking and/or regular alcohol consumption were less likely to take multivitamin complexes during their pregnancies. The study’s authors recommend that more effort is invested into educating women on the risks of drinking during their years of reproductive fertility.
The University of California scientists cited above had a common theme of research with several British scientists, who published the upcoming results of a study late last year. The study in question, published this March in the British Medical Journal points to the jarring effects of drinking during the first trimester of pregnancy. According to the paper, such behavior dramatically increases the risks of giving birth before term, or delivering an inordinately small baby, who may or may not have health issues because of this. Moreover, the study also indicated that even drinking before the baby is conceived heightens these odds – which led the researchers to conclude that the period of time prior to conception is also highly critical for the proper development of the baby. The research had 1,246 women answer questions about what they drink and how often they do, two weeks before conceiving, but also every three months during their pregnancy. As an interesting aside, nearly 40 per cent of the respondents admitted to having more than two drinks per week during the first three months, and most of them were white, educated, older, and lived in richer areas.
Almost anticipating the findings of the British study mentioned above is a Norwegian one, completed in mid-October 2013. This piece of research found that both light alcohol use and binge drinking yielded negative results during pregnancy. According to the study in question, 16 per cent of women drink lightly during the first trimester, and 10 per cent continue to drink during the second one as well. Perhaps more worryingly, a staggering 12 per cent binge drink during their first three months of being pregnant. This is likely because they are unaware of the pregnancy, since this ratio drops to .5 per cent of binge drinkers during months four to six of carrying to term. The effects? The Norwegian scientists link both light and binge drinking with negative affectivity, i.e. experiencing negative emotions, such as anxiety and depression.
The correlation between anxiety, depression and drinking while pregnant came out rather clearly from the study: women who reported they drank lightly during the first trimester had 27 per cent more odds at experiencing these emotions; the percentage for second trimester light drinkers went up to 28 per cent. For binge drinking, the odds stood at 55 per cent during the first trimester and 114 per cent during the second one. The researchers also took these findings as an opportunity to further investigate why women keep drinking, in spite of the numerous warnings against the health risks this kind of behavior comports.
Women should not drink as much as men
Late last year, around Christmas time, a group of researchers in hepatology at the Houston Methodist Hospital warned against the fact that women should not be drinking as much as men, if they care at all about the health of their livers. For one thing, women are smaller in stature and, for another, they have less body water than men, as well as more adipose tissue in their bodies. The chief researcher at the Houston Hospital explained that women who are genetically predisposed to liver diseases should limit their alcohol intake drastically – or avoid drinking altogether. Drinking light is not the answer either, because one beer has just as much alcohol as a shot of hard liquor, as well as bringing along the same damaging effects.
The doctor, Howard Monsour, also added that liver diseases are not solely developed by alcoholics, as the popular misconception goes. In fact, he stated, people who are genetically predisposed are far more sensitive to such issues, and this especially applies to women. Roughly 20-30 per cent of the population is predisposed to hepatic cirrhosis, and for the women in this situation, even one drink per day could turn out to be too much. As such, the doctor’s advice is to look into your family history and work out whether or not this is your case. This is good advice to bear in mind around Christmas and New Year’s, but it’s actually very sound to bear in mind irrespective of the season. Developing a drinking habit is not that difficult – but for some women out there, it could turn out to be fatal.