14 DAY TRIAL // Hey man, is your soul mate already in an alcoholic comma after drinking two beers?
There's no wonder: many studies point to the fact that women are more vulnerable to the harmful effects of alcohol. It is estimated that of the 15.1 million alcohol-abusing or alcohol-dependent individuals in the United States, approximately 4.6 million (nearly one-third) are women.
On the whole, women who drink consume less alcohol and have fewer alcohol-related problems and dependence symptoms than men, yet among the heaviest drinkers, women equal or surpass men in the number of problems that result from their drinking.
That's because alcohol attacks more easily female liver, heart, brain and other organs. For example, the minimum alcohol level needed to trigger cirrhosis in a woman's liver is two-three times smaller than for a man.
There are many hypotheses trying to explain this disadvantage. One says that this is due to the smaller size of the female body and, moreover, to the fact that they have a tendency to store more fat tissue. Alcohol is dispersed in the water from the body. The more water available, the more diluted the alcohol.
Pound for pound, women have less water in their bodies than men, so a woman's organs are exposed to more alcohol before it is broken down. The fat tissue complicates the converting of alcohol in fats (lipids) and, this way, dilutes the ingested booze.
A third factor was found in the woman's stomach. Researchers at Bronx VA Medical Center, New York, found that the enzymes that attack the alcohol - before this passes into the bloodstream - have a lower performance in women.
In case of alcoholic drinks abuse, the alcohol level in their bloodstream is higher and, as a result, the risk of suffering its toxic effects increases.