The Lifelong Learner         by Stanley Kubasek | About Me |

For us, men, drinking small amounts of alcoholic beverages each day is good for our health. :-) But if you're a women, things get a little murky, I'm finding out about this while reading the WSJ.

Overall, science shows that for both men and women, drinking a small amount of alcohol each day is better for you than never drinking at all, and it likely lowers your risk of heart attack, diabetes and mental decline. But for women, moderate alcohol consumption also carries risks you may not know about.

Even small amounts of alcohol consumption are linked with higher risk for breast cancer. Women who drive after drinking are at higher risk than men of dying in a car accident, even at similar blood-alcohol concentrations. And women are at higher risk than men for serious health problems related to alcohol abuse, including liver, brain and heart damage.

Women achieve higher concentrations of alcohol in the blood and become more impaired than men after drinking equivalent amounts of alcohol, even when taking into account differences in height and weight. This is likely due to the fact that a woman's stomach empties more slowly than a man's, giving the body more time to absorb the same amount of alcohol, many doctors say.

Reference
The Case Against Ladies' Night: Drinking Has Hidden Health Risks for Women, WSJ (need subscription)