Women Drinking: A Lifestyle on the Rise

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Bubbly, fruity drinks are amongst most women’s favorite type of alcoholic beverages. Often associated with women are pink, girly drinks, a booming market where the alcohol industry is spending billions of dollars developing and marketing drinks geared towards women. According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), Women’s drinking patterns are significantly different from men’s – especially when it comes to how much and how often they drink. It is has concluded that women’s bodies react differently to alcohol than men’s bodies due to metabolism and other bodily mechanisms. That means women face more particular health risks from alcohol compared to their male counterparts.

Drinking Levels among Women
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the following statistics have supported a peak interest in research related to the rise of excessive alcohol use and risks to women’s health:
• Approximately 46% of adult women report drinking alcohol in the last 30 days.
• Approximately 12% of adult women report binge drinking three times a month, averaging five drinks per binge
• Most (90%) people who binge drink are not alcoholics or alcohol dependent
• About 2.5% of women and 4.5% of men met the diagnostic criteria for alcohol dependence in the past year

*Statistics obtained from the CDC fact sheet on excessive use and risk to women’s health* 

So Why Do Women Face Higher Risks?
Research has shown that women start to have alcohol-related problems sooner and at lower alcohol volumes than men and for several reasons (NIAA,2017). Women tend to have less water in their bodies than men, meaning that after a woman and a man of the same weight drink the same amount of alcohol, the woman’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC) will tend to be higher, putting her at greater risk for harm (CDC, 2016). Amongst these reasons and others, women have become more susceptible than men to alcohol-related organ damage and trauma resulting from traffic crashes and personal violence (CDC,2016).

Health effects
Liver damage
Women who regularly misuse alcohol are more likely to develop alcoholic hepatitis, and liver scarring and shrinkage called cirrhosis (NIAA 2017). Loft et all, released a study that has been cited by many health organizations on the Increased susceptibility to liver disease in relation to alcohol consumption in women. They concluded that results support the concept that women may develop similarly, and sometimes even more severe, liver disease after use of less alcohol than men, the apparent difference in susceptibility to alcohol may be partly explained by differences in the volume of distribution ( Loft S, Olesen KL, Dossing M, 1987).

Heart Disease
Studies have shown that women who drink excessively are at increased risk for damage to the heart than men even for women drinking at lower levels (CDC, 2016). Cardiomyopathy and myopathy are as common in female alcoholics as in male alcoholics; these findings indicate that women are more sensitive than men to the toxic effects of alcohol on striated muscle (Urbano-Marquez A, Estruch R, Fernandez-Sola J, Nicola JM, Pare JC, Rubin E, 1995).

Brain Damage
NIAAA documents that research suggests that alcohol misuse produces brain damage more quickly in women than in men. Girls who drink in their adolescent years may be more vulnerable to brain damage than teen boys who drink, and women have become more susceptible than men to alcohol-related blackouts; periods of memory loss of events during intoxication without loss of consciousness (NIAA, 2017).

There are many other health conditions affected by excessive alcohol use that affect women. For more information, the CDC has produced a Fact sheet listing more statistics associated with women and excessive alcohol use listed here (https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/womens-health.htm).

You should always drink responsibly, which means abiding by the NIAAA guidelines for moderate drinking, never getting behind the wheel while intoxicated and avoiding all forms of alcohol while pregnant.

Sources:
CDC. March 7, 2016. Fact Sheets – Excessive Alcohol Use and Risks to Women’s Health. Content source: Division of Population Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/womens-health.htm
Loft S, Olesen KL, Dossing M. Increased susceptibility to liver disease in relation to alcohol consumption in women. Scand J Gastroenterol. 1987;22(10):1251–6.
NIAA, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. June 2017. Women and Alcohol, Understanding the impact of alcohol on human health and well-being. National Institute of Health. https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/special-populations-co-occurring-disorders/women
Urbano-Marquez A, Estruch R, Fernandez-Sola J, Nicola JM, Pare JC, Rubin E. The greater risk of alcoholic cardiomyopathy and myopathy in women compared with menExternal. JAMA 1995;274(2):149–154.

How Does Consumption of Alcoholic Beverages Impact Women?

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Gone are those days when you would think excessive alcohol drinking was a man’s problem. The shift in excessive alcohol drinking patterns among women is on the rise particularly in younger age groups. Findings from the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health estimated that about 5.3 million women suffer from Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD).
Women tolerate alcohol differently than men. Do you know why? Perhaps this may be since women have a lower body weight than men, less body water and higher percentage of body fat. In addition, women metabolize alcohol at a slower rate than men, so alcohol may remain in their tissues longer (1). There is evidence from studies that for equivalent doses of alcohol, women are more vulnerable than men to tissue damage and the onset of certain diseases such as cirrhosis of the liver and physical alcohol dependence (2). Heavier alcohol use by women is also thought to increase risk of bone fracture and osteoporosis (3). Furthermore, women can be more vulnerable to physical risks through violence or abuse when intoxicated (4).

But the harms done to women by alcohol are many, and most do not seem to know. You will be surprised to learn this. Consumption of alcoholic beverages is now recognized as a known human carcinogen. This is stated in the Report on Carcinogens by the National Toxicology Program of the US Department of Health and Human Services.

What is more alarming is the fact that alcohol is a risk factor for breast cancer in women. It is estimated that about 2.1 to 4.0% of breast cancers are primarily due to alcohol consumption accounting for 9000–23,000 new invasive breast cancer cases each year. Studies suggest a 7–10% increase in risk for each 10 g (~1 drink) alcohol consumed daily by adult women. And the risk increases for every additional drink they have per day. This raises a clinical and public health concern because nearly half of women of child-bearing age drink alcohol and 15% of drinkers at this age have four or more drinks at a time.

Do Women need to be informed about the association of Alcohol and breast cancer? Definitely? What can be done? Some strategies to consider: – Use mass media advertising campaigns involving television, billboard displays and Transit advertising on modes of public transportation or in public transportation areas), social media platforms to disseminate this information.


Image source: CDC

These can aim at reduction of alcohol consumption in women, influence risk perceptions of women on alcohol consumption and increase their level of awareness on Alcohol as a risk factor for breast cancer.

Another strategy- Make the women aware through their Family Physicians. Family Physicians could screen female patients and provide behavioral counseling and make them aware of association of alcohol with breast cancer. How about using cancer centers to do some outreach to the community? Appropriate staff in these centers could post position papers in peer reviewed journals on how alcohol affects risk of cancer in women.

Yet another strategy would be to have warning labels on alcohol bottles, however this is not easy as it seems, and this is some food for thought I suppose.

 

References
1. Plant M. Women and Alcohol: contemporary and historical perspectives. London: Free Association Books, 1997.
2. Kalant H. Absorption, diffusion, distribution and elimination of ethanol: effects on biological membranes. In: Kissin B, Begleiter H, eds. The biology of Alcohol ism, vol 1. Biochemistry. New York: Plenum Press, 1971.
3. Baron JA, Bahman YF, Weiderpass E, et al. Cigarette smoking, Alcohol consumption and risk of hip fracture in women. Arch Int Med 2001; 161:983 ± 90.
4. Jacobs J. The links between substance misuse and domestic violence: current knowledge and debates. London: Alcohol Concern and ISDD, 1998.

My Thoughts on Why Women Drink & Drunkorexia

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Alcohol use among women has been increasing at an alarming rate. In fact, according to the JAMA Psychiatry article published in September 2017, there was a 34% increase in high-risk women drinkers and alcohol use disorder (AUD) from 2002 to 2013 compared to a 13% increase in men. This demonstrates that alcohol use among women is a growing public health issue that needs to be addressed. However, with the media, marketing strategies employed by alcohol companies and the normalization of alcohol in our society, addressing this issue is becoming increasingly harder to do.

There are several ways that women are targeted by both the media and marketing strategies which appeal to them to drink. One of the best-known examples of this is the wine company, “MommyJuice”. The marketing strategy behind this brand is that it is stressful to be a mother – to juggle taking care of yourself, your kids, and work – and that even moms need a way to unwind. And what a better way to de-stress than with a glass of MommyJuice? While moms do work incredibly hard (and absolutely need to take time for themselves), is encouraging them to relax with alcohol the best way? Especially when it’s branded in such an insidious way, it appears to be taking advantage of women and their situations.

It is common for kids to have playdates, and while the kids are playing so are the parents who use this as an excuse to socialize and drink. There are potential consequences that can result from an afternoon of drinking such as the safety of both the adults and children and the normalization of alcohol. After the play date, the mom might have to drive herself and her children home. If her inhibitions are impaired from the “mommyjuice”, the potential for car accidents increases. The act of moms drinking during a child’s playdate can also normalize alcohol for the child. If they are constantly around it as a child because their parents drink in front of them, they may be more likely to drink in adolescence and adulthood.

Another example is the Skinnygirl Cocktail line, with the advertising campaign of “Drink Like a Lady.” The marketing strategy here is that women can still drink but without the worry of extra calories. This will appeal to women because of the societal norms regarding appearance. The other day I saw an advertisement for spiked sparkling water – with only 100 calories, the can reads. I was shocked that an innocent beverage such as sparkling water now needs to be spiked to be enjoyed. Even beer companies have been marketing low-calorie options for women. The reaction the alcohol industry is hoping to elicit from women is, “What’s better than being able to indulge in an alcoholic beverage without the guilt from the empty calories that come with it?” The way these brands are being marketed towards women, many of whom are susceptible to succumbing to them because they address issues that affect women, is manipulative.  A quick google search for “low-calorie alcohol” will bring up several articles with suggestions on how to select drinks that will still get you drunk minus the extra calories. Other websites like beer100 offer charts with the caloric content of the different brands of beer. This information is easily accessible, and if the internet says it works, then people believe it.

This leads me into another drinking phenomenon to which I was completely unaware of until recently: Drunkorexia. The name is what it implies; it is a pattern of starvation, excessive exercise or binging and purging in order to consume multiple drinks. This pattern is often seen in women who are concerned about their calorie consumption and body image. Because there is no food in their system, the individual is more susceptible to the effects of alcohol. They will become drunk quicker and are at a higher risk of passing out and of alcohol poisoning. From basic human anatomy differences between women and men, we know that women are more vulnerable to alcohol’s effects. Women tend to have a higher body fat percentage and less body water. Because there is less water in body fat, alcohol is diluted in the blood at a slower rate. Women also have a lower level of alcohol dehydrogenase, which is an enzyme that assists in metabolizing and eliminating alcohol from the body. The bottom line is that women suffer from the effects of alcohol more than men, especially if they are drinking spirits in order to avoid extra calories.

In addition to alcohol companies marketing their products specifically to women, there are several other consumer products that use this as a way to sell products while contributing to the pattern of women and drinking. For example, wine glasses are sold with the mottos “MommyJuice” or “Surviving motherhood one glass at a time” written on them. Cup towels, aprons, magnets, and several other similar products are sold which perpetrate this increasing trend of women who drink. These novelty items are given as gifts, oftentimes as a joke, but they still carry that message that drinking for women is a necessity to cope with the stressors of daily life.

                                                                         

I understand that some people don’t necessarily see this as a problem – they think these products are funny and is meant to be taken as a light-hearted joke or that indulging in alcohol isn’t the worst thing they could be doing – but if they take the time to look at the national trend in high-risk drinking and AUD mentioned earlier, I would hope that they would change their minds. Alcohol companies have noticed this upward trend in the number of women who drink, and are using that information to exacerbate a public health issue. Because drinking is so normalized and engrained within our culture, it is not viewed as a problem and the alcohol industry, unfortunately, takes advantage of this. 

The Potential for “Mommy Juice”

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In the past few years a phenomenon that has been dubbed “Mommy juice” has dominated a variety of social media platforms and marketing techniques. The term mommy juice was made to represent the drinks mothers may need in order to cope with a long day of parenting stress. In addition to dealing with the everyday stresses and anxieties, these women are facing additional pressures navigating through modern parenting. Unfortunately, the common consensus for dealing with these issue have seemed to turn towards drinking as a mechanism. Memes depicting this social structure are shared constantly on Twitter and Facebook.  Products such as Mommy juice wines and accompanying novelty glasses can be found at most retails store, and drinking now more frequently occurs at events where not previously found, such as children’s sporting events and play dates. The potentials for this increasingly popular behavior are dangerous on many levels.

Children whose mothers regularly partake in their, perhaps nightly, indulgence of mommy juice can grow up with the unhealthy idea that alcohol is a safe coping outlet for dealing with stress, which could not be further from the truth. Children learn drinking habits from their parents and heavy drinking observed by children is a major indicator of how their relationship will be with alcohol in the future. The dangers of long term drinking are well known. If these children grow to adapt their mothers ideas of drinking to alleviate negative feelings, they are potentially at risk for the effects such as addiction, unhealthy coping tactics, and liver damage. Children are often observant to such behavior and it is entirely possible they pick up the habit of the necessity of mommy juice if exposed often enough.  Beyond that, these children can also grow up with a notion of normalized drinking in inappropriate places.

Small anecdote from my own life. My younger brother competes in baseball tournaments during the summers; they’re often all day events with multiple games spread out. I went to one Saturday tournament and as I watched I noticed so many of the moms never strayed far from their large colorful thermoses; at one point I leaned over to my own mother and naively asked if they were all that caffeine addicted to be drinking coffee in the middle of a summer day. My mom kinda laughed and told me they fill them up with wine in between games. Sure enough, at one point most of them huddled together and took turns filling up their thermoses. Little was done to hide this fact. I felt that it was somewhat shocking. I’m not unfamiliar with the idea of alcohol at sporting events, but for it to be a children’s game, in the middle of the day, it just seemed out of place. I didn’t attend every game, so I can’t say for certain whether this was a regular occurrence or not, but assuming so, these children can become confused with the social appropriateness of when and where alcohol is seen as acceptable. This concept is not an uncommon event. The following link (IDGAF Mama’s) shows a meme that was shared in a Facebook group titled “IDGAF Mama’s”. The meme encourages an undercover mommy juice blend that can be concealed to look like a Starbucks drink. The picture has been liked more then 3,000 times and shared almost 9,000 times. Moms are undoubtedly relating to it. 

On the other hand, in a point that was brought up both in class, and in Drink by Ann Johnston, it can seem somewhat sexist to question mothers and their drinking habits. Men have been enjoying happy hour drinks for decades, and the post-work beers have never been questioned for them. This could be because of the traditional notion that women are mostly responsible for activities related to raising children. If parental drinking is a concern in raising healthy children, and it is, then both parents should be aware of the dangers related to the situation. However, because women are currently being targeted by the alcohol industry in the form of these mommy juice advertisements, products, and memes they should be more attentive and aware than their male counterparts. There is something inciting in being told you deserve a break, you deserve to reward yourself, and you deserve to indulge a little; the alcohol industry knows this and is throwing everything they can into this marketing scheme. I’m sure a lot of the mothers that relate to the promises of “mommy juice” absolutely do deserve the breaks these companies promote at the bottoms of their bottles, but for the sake of their health and their children’s, alcohol is likely not the outlet to turn to. 

 

Alcohol and Women: What You Should Know

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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.

#BoozyMomNation: The Culture Surrounding Moms and Their Drinking Habits

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The term “mommy juice” may appear innocent and lighthearted, however, taking a further look into the expression, one can see it being quite problematic. “Mommy juice” refers to an alcoholic drink that a mother consumes to cope with her daily tasks of motherhood. We understand, being a mom is hard. Mothers have sacrificed so much for their children and are deserving of mental and physical breaks. But, when did the dependence of wine consumption become the standard idea of motherhood time outs?

#BoozyMomNation

Cultural norms and generational trends can contribute to the hype of the mommy juice movement. You can walk into almost any department store’s home decor section and find paraphernalia relating to this culture. I searched “mommy juice” on Amazon.com and approximately 140 related items came up for purchase. As for the e-commerce website, Etsy.com, approximately 700 items. This advertisement is just an example of how easy it is to find alcoholic beverages and glassware marketed directly to mothers. The Boozy Mom Nation is even easier to find on Facebook. With a simple query, I found groups named “Moms Gone Wine” “Moms Deserve to Wine” and “Mom Hard, Wine Harder”. The normalization of the mommy juice movement desensitizes the consequences of this harmful behavior and increases the potential for binge drinking and the effects it may have on both the mother and her child(ren).

Source: https://www.etsy.com/search?q=mommy%20juice

  

Functioning Alcoholic

Women are often found drinking alcohol to celebrate happy events, decompress from a stressful day, or cope with sadness. Mommy juice consumption can consist of one maybe two, glasses of wine. To some, this may not seem harmful, but using alcohol as a coping device can lead to further consumption of stronger alcoholic drinks and binge drinking.

Here are a few harmful behavioral habits that can be a sign for alcohol use disorder (AUD).

Drinking to cope with pain or sadness– motherhood is tough, and adding other work and life stresses, doesn’t make it any easier. Women must find healthier coping mechanisms and outlets for their mommy “time-outs”.

Drinking more often- For women, binge drinking is defined as 4 or more drinks during a single occasion or more than 7 drinks in a week (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism). When one mommy juice drink becomes two or three more, that harmful habit may be out of control. 

Drinking and driving (with and without passengers)- Although the legal blood alcohol content amount is 0.08 g/dl, drinking and driving is never the answer. Once drinking interferes with your ability to function during the day and take care of your child(ren), it’s a sign that your drinking habits have become a problem.  

If the negative consequences to an individual isn’t enough to take control of their drinking habits, then they should consider the effects it may have on their children. Children are often compared to a sponge; they absorb anything around them. A child may one day adopt the same behaviors they’ve seen their parents perform. If a child grows up in a household with a heavy drinking culture, that drinking behavior becomes normalized. Their coping mechanisms to stress and sadness becomes directly attached to alcohol. Furthermore, when alcohol gets in the way of normal parenting activities, the relationship between a mother and child cannot grow to its fullest potential in the most important times of child development. For example, after one too many glasses of wine, a mom may feel frustrated or not be as attentive to what their child is doing or needing at that moment.

Future of Mommy Juice

So, what should moms do instead of drinking their mommy juice? Let’s start by reducing the negative connotation around women seeking help and wanting to take breaks from motherhood. Let’s provide alternative outlets and support groups for mommy self-care time. Building connections and receiving support from others are important ways to ensure moms and their children can develop a safe and healthy relationship. We should also pay close attention to marketing tactics and be aware of the dangers unhealthy drinking habits have on people and their social networks.  

 

 

Sources:

https://www.necn.com/on-air/as-seen-on/WEB-Mommy-Juice_NECN-459083083.html

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/When-the-Mommy-Juice-Culture-Becomes-an-Issue-459152193.html

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/7-signs-youre-hitting-the-mommy-juice-too-hard

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). NIAAA Council Approves Definition of Binge Drinking. NIAAA Newsletter, No. 3, Winter 2004. Available at: http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/Newsletter/winter2004/Newsletter_Number3.pdf.

Women and Drinking: The Memes & Some Solutions

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The Memes related to women and drinking – are they tapping into the motivation to drink, the negative reinforcement?

Alcoholism, also called dependence on alcohol, is a chronic relapsing disorder that is progressive and has serious detrimental health outcomes. The development of alcoholism is characterized by frequent episodes of intoxication, preoccupation with alcohol, use of alcohol despite adverse consequences, compulsion to seek and consume alcohol and emergence of a negative emotional state in the absence of the drug.

Reinforcement is a process in which a response or behavior is strengthened based on previous experiences. In negative reinforcement, a response or behavior is strengthened by stopping, removing, or avoiding a negative outcome or aversive stimulus. Memes like “shout out to the liver for handling what the heart cannot” or “if you combine wine and dinner the new word is winner” and a text reading “according to chemistry, alcohol is a solution” are tapping into the motivation to drink. Although they are funny sometime, they are also insidious, since they get inside our head and make us want to drink. Experts says that such memes create a strong effect on the mind of an individual as they encourage excessive drinking and promote alcohol as a solution to problems and are portrayed as a way of ‘’escaping reality”. So, people keep drinking for longer periods of time. Researchers also suggest that such memes encourage unwise drinking and trivialize alcohol addiction.

 

                                                                      

But, there are some methods by which one can stay sober despite all the pervasive messages and drinking environments. The first is the Dory method in which you can remember the top ten ‘bad drinking memories’ where you place them in the back pocket and whip them out whenever you find yourself romanticizing alcohol. One study found that even if you don’t have a time for long work out sessions, just 10 minutes may reduce or eliminate a booze craving for alcohol drinking.

 

There is also motivational model of alcohol use which suggest that individual differences in sensitivity to the acute subjective effects of alcohol, which may serve as a mechanism underlying alcohol reinforcement and the motivation to consume more alcohol during a drinking episode. The results demonstrate that drinking motives are linked with individual differences in sensitivity to the effects of alcohol, which may serve as a mechanism underlying alcohol reinforcement and the motivation to consume more alcohol during a drinking episode.

Women’s bodies also react differently to the alcohol than men’s bodies. That means women face particular health risks from alcohol.According to one study problems with alcohol increased by nearly 50 percent. Among women, alcohol abuse and dependence increased by 83.7 percent. Among the poor it rose by 65.9 percent. because of the increased drinking among women the prevalence of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) in the united states also raised. It was observed to be between 0.5 and 3.0 cases per 1000 by the institute of medicine in 1996 but more recent reports from specific U.S. sites report the prevalence of FAS to be 2 to 7 cases per 1,000 and the prevalence of Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) to be as high as 20 to 50 cases per 1,000.

References-

 

 

 

Alcohol & Breast Cancer

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The Problem: Alcohol Attributable Breast Cancer

     Alcohol consumption and the effects that it has on increasing the risk that a women will develop breast cancer in the future is something that has been studied extensively the past 20 years. Some of these studies date back to early epidemiological data that suggests that “Increased estrogen and androgen levels in women consuming alcohol appear to be important mechanisms underlying the association.” (Singleton, 2001). According to a study that was conducted in 2012, globally about 144,000 breast cancer cases and 38,000 breast cancer deaths were attributed to alcohol consumption (Shield, 2016). The report stated that a sizable amount of the 38,000 breast cancer deaths were attributable to light drinking which was classified as having 3 to 6 drinks a week. This same study found that the highest incidences of alcohol attributable breast cancer deaths and cases were located in Northern and Western Europe (12.4 cases of breast cancer per 100,000 women) followed by North America and Oceania (9.8 cases per 100,000 women). The map that was included in  the research studpage8image429650960y which visually illustrates the geographic distribution of the alcoholic attributable breast cancer cases globally in 2012 is shown here to the right. This map shows a concentration of alcohol attributed cases and deaths in regions of the world that are highly developed. With this research still being relatively new the researchers noted that further research would be done to determine how drinking patterns, age in which alcohol is consumed, and genetic differences increase or decrease your risk for dying from or developing breast cancer. With the growing buzz around this research the question begs itself, how can this information be disseminated to women? Through public advertisements? At screenings? These are questions that should be asked to try combat this issue.

 

 

Spreading the Word: From the Doctor’s Office to Your Bar

     With all of the new research coming out each day regarding alcohol consumption and breast cancer awareness, the next step would be to inform the women who may be at risk. As mentioned in the research study above, researchers found that even being a light drinker (3 to 6 drinks per week) has the potential to increase women’s chances of developing breast cancer. In my opinion, some of the best ways to disseminate this information would be during physicals initially. This will be a very good method to enforce preventive methods of reducing alcohol-attributable breast cancer cases. During a woman’s annual physical, her primary care physician can explain to her the research being done in the field and include information about how the weekly consumption of alcohol may increase their risk of getting breast cancer. For women that may be uninsured, although it may be a bit of a stretch but literature that illustrates the risk of constantly consuming alcoholic beverages and its potential ties to breast cancer in stores and establishments where alcohol is sold could go a long way in potentially preventing women from indulging in habits that may increase their breast cancer risk. For an intervention to disseminate information through bars in liquor stores and bars would probably require some type of policy to be written. It can be expected that liquor companies and any other interested parties will provide all sorts of push back to stop advertising that would hurt sales. If women are more informed, public opinion may put enough pressure on these companies to ensure that they are informing their patrons of the risks they are exposing themselves to.

 

 

Sources:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/194343

http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=4b82059a-90f5-4e69-b46b-bd59c573ec7f%40sessionmgr102

The Sad Truth about Women and Alcohol

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In our past few classes, we’ve discussed some exceptionally sad, and very telling, facts about women and alcohol. I will be sharing my views on women’s motivations for drinking (1), the relatively fewer benefits that drinking brings to women (compared to men) (2), and the alarming societal normalization of extremely risky drinking practices (3). 

  1. In the video we watched last week, Dr. Koob, the Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism at the NIH,  explained that women’s drinking is generally motivated by negative reinforcement (whereas men are motivated by positive reinforcement). This means that instead of choosing to drink because they want to feel good, or have fun (like men), women are more likely to drink as a way to relieve stress and anxiety. In other words, women aren’t drinking to have fun, they’re drinking to escape. How heartbreaking is that? Perhaps even more upsetting is the fact that this is not at all surprising. This isn’t surprising to anyone…is it? As someone who has to face every single day as a woman, I am well aware of the significantly higher levels of constant duress, mental illnesses, chronic illness, extreme stress, exhaustion women face– coupled with the much LOWER levels of political, social, cultural, and personal support that women also deal with. I am not surprised by women being motivated by seeking to alleviate some of the daily struggle they face. I am deeply disturbed (as I am every waking moment of my life) by the way women are treated and strongly believe that gender equity and women’s drinking levels are inversely, and causally, related. Make women’s lives less of a constant struggle, and their desire to drink might fade away. 
  2. Another interesting, and depressing fact, also shared by Dr. Koob in Alcohol and the Female Brain is that women experience less of a positive effect of alcohol. Women have a lower dopamine response from alcohol consumption than men do–biology is cruel, I suppose. This could mean that women experience drinking differently than men. This makes sense to me (though I feel like I may be alone on this), because the commercialized idea of drinking looks really fun, but in reality it has really fallen far short. Not because of any bad drinking experiences, but it just is not that great. I’ve been confused in reading “Drink” because alcohol seems to have a profoundly positive emotional response on a lot of women, and it’s been pretty neutral for me. I wonder what the comparative dopamine responses are between people who are vulnerable to alcoholism versus people for whom alcohol never has much draw?

    How the media makes drinking look

    vs. how anticlimactic drinking usually is

     

  3. Finally, I’d like to discuss the societal normalization of dangerous drinking. Many friends in undergrad proudly gloated that they’d had 15, 16, or 17 shots the night before and didn’t throw up. I hear girls fondly share vague stories of nights they blacked out, laughing about how they remember nothing. I hear about a lot of women ‘saving their calories’ for the day so they can drink. This is terrifying to me. Let’s revisit why we think these are acceptable, and change the narrative. This is a problem.

What is the Cost of an Alcohol Meme?

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“A day without wine is like…just kidding I have no idea”, “Clear alcohol is for women on diets”, “Gone are the days women cooked like their mothers, now they drink like their fathers” and I could go on and on.

Or maybe you’ve even seen one like the one, which seems to be saying motherhood is synonymous with drinking wine. And drinking a lot of it. We’ve all seen them, and probably even chuckled at them. It seems you can’t log onto Facebook, or Instagram or whatever your social media platform of choice is these days without seeing some meme referring to women and alcohol. You’ve probably just kept on scrolling or maybe gave it a quick “like” or perhaps even shared it with the thought that your friends or family would get a kick out of it. But what effect is this having on us? Most 14-year-olds these days are on social media, what message is this sending to them?

I’ve seen memes featuring beautiful actresses, the women that pop culture tells us we should emulate. Jennifer Lawrence talking about how she took a shot just before taking the stage to accept her Oscar for “Best Actress”. To an impressionable 13-year-old girl who isn’t quite sure who she is and how she should act but has a deep desire to appear “cool” and funny like J-Law, the message is clear: If Jennifer Lawrence and Kim Kardashian are drinking, she should be too.

The sheer prevalence of these memes alone can give us the impression that everyone is drinking. Every mom is finding relief from her busy schedule with a large glass of red wine. It makes it socially acceptable to rely on alcohol to unwind at the end of a long day. Maybe at first, this is true, but as numerous studies have shown, prolonged alcohol use and abuse has a depressant effect and increases risk of, not only liver disease, but even breast cancer as stated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/breast/basic_info/risk_factors.htm).

In addition to these risks, many women admit they use alcohol to avoid confronting underlying psychological stresses and illness. But alcohol is not a cure, it only delays these feelings and often when the morning light comes, brings along feelings of deep shame and failure. How many of you have ever woken up after a night of heavy drinking and felt better for it? Memes, advertisements, and making jokes about women drinking only serves to normalize binge drinking and desensitize us to its constant presence in our lives. Maybe it’s time we ask ourselves whether hitting share to get a few likes or laughs is worth our health and our lives.