If you’re reading this, you’re probably familiar with alcohol. Maybe you drink it occasionally, maybe you drink it often. Maybe you’ve never tasted it. The bottom line is, most people are familiar with the substance and to some degree, it’s effects. But if you’re female, you may be surprised to learn that the relationship between alcohol and women has a rocky past—and it is continuing to worsen. Not only do women metabolize alcohol differently than men, but we’re targeted differently, we drink differently, and we now abuse it differently than men.
Women’s prevalence of alcohol abuse has increased at a faster rate than men’s in recent years.
According to a study featured in JAMA, the amount of women reporting alcohol use disorders increased heavily within a period of ten years. From 2001/2002 to 2012/2013, men’s prevalence of alcohol use disorders increased by 13.2%. During the same time frame, women’s prevalence of alcohol use disorders increased by 34.7%.
Reprinted from “Prevalence of 12-Month Alcohol Use, High Risk Drinking, and DSM-IV Alcohol Use Disorder in the United States, 2001-2002 to 2012-2013,” by Bridget F. Grante, S. Patricia Chou, Tulshi D. Saha, et al, 2017, JAMA Psychiatry, 74, p. 911-923.
The difference is staggering. What happened to the culture of drinking among women to cause such an increase? Perhaps the recent uptick in alcohol marketing to females can offer some explanation.
In recent years, women have been specifically targeted by alcohol companies as the ideal consumer.
Doug Beatty, Vice President of Marketing for Colio Estate Wines, explains that “eighty-five percent of the purchase decisions in the twelve- to fifteen- dollar range are ‘female-driven’.” Colio Estates produces a wine called ‘Girls Night Out’ that is marketed to, and made for, women specifically. A quick visit to their website and you can see why women may choose this when making a grocery run: wines such as Red Velvet Cheesecake Macaron, Raspberry Rosé Lemonade, and Pineapple Mango Tango are just a few of their flavored options.
Beatty’s female-focused products are not alone in the market. In recent years, the alcohol market has been inundated with products that target women and feature, promote, or encourage drinking in some way. Of course, these products by themselves are not the sole issue. But combine them with the chemical differences in the way women metabolize alcohol, and we begin to understand why women’s relationship with alcohol is worsening.
Women are biologically different than men, and therefore metabolize alcohol differently.
It is no secret that men and women are biologically different. However, what may be less known is that our sexes also differ in how alcohol is metabolized in our bodies. According to a publication from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), women’s higher liver volume lends to a quicker metabolism of alcohol, as alcohol is processed almost entirely in the liver. Consequently, women typically achieve higher concentrations of alcohol in the blood after drinking equal amounts of alcohol as her male counterpart. Women also suffer from liver disease after a shorter period of exposure and after consuming less.
And lastly, women drink for different reasons than men.
In Dr. George F. Koob’s presentation on Alcohol and the Female Brain, the Director of the NIAAA explains that women drink based on negative reinforcement whereas men drink for positive reinforcement. A seemingly small distinction, the reality is actually stark. What this really means is that while John may drink to have a good time, Jane is most likely drinking to quiet her anxiety, her depression, or even just take the edge off of a bad day. When alcohol becomes the answer to a problem, that is when the true problem takes shape.
Overall, alcohol use can hurt people of all shapes, sizes, races and ages. However, we need to begin having conversations around why the landscape is changing for women—and what we can do to prevent it.