Women match men on alcohol intake – Study

The gap between alcohol consumption habits of men and women is nearly close, a global study on drinking habits shows. Women now take more than they used to.

According to the study as reported by the BBC, women have all but caught up with men at knocking back alcohol.

The study analysed four million people born between 1891 and 2001 and

result showed that men used to be more likely to drink and have resulting health problems.

But the report showed that the current generation of women have pretty much closed the drinking gap, the BMJ Open report says.

According to the study, the new drinking pattern may be explained by the changing roles of men and women in society.

The study showed that in people born in the early 1900s, men were:

• More than twice as likely as women to drink alcohol at all (2.2 times). Three times as likely to drink to problematic levels. And 3.6 times as likely to develop health problems from drinking, such as liver cirrhosis

But the gap closed greatly such that for those born at the end of the century men were only:

• A smidge – 1.1 times – as likely as women to drink alcohol at all. A much lower 1.2 times as likely to drink to problematic levels. And 1.3 times as likely to develop health problems from drinking.

The team at the University of New South Wales, in Australia, analysed data from people all over the world – although it was massively skewed towards North America and Europe.

They concluded: “Alcohol use and alcohol-use disorders have historically been viewed as a male phenomenon.

“The present study calls this assumption into question and suggests that young women, in particular, should be the target of concerted efforts to reduce the impact of substance use and related harms.”