Women drinkers more prone to brain damage
The Scotsman Online
SHAN ROSS
Key points
• Alcohol consumption among women in the UK highest in Europe
• German brain scan study found women especially vulnerable to binge
drinking
• Police say 'ladette' culture has been growing over the past 20 years
Key quote
"We know that women metabolise alcohol differently from men and absorb
it into their bodies more quickly" - Srabani Sen, chief executive of
Alcohol Concern
Story in full ALCOHOL is much more likely to damage women’s brains
than men’s, new research published yesterday has warned.
The findings will be of serious concern to alcohol abuse campaigners
and health professionals faced with a culture where binge drinking
among females is ever more prevalent.
Alcohol consumption among women in the UK is already the highest in
Europe and a recent report predicted it is set to surge over the next
five years - possibly even overtaking the amount consumed by men.
The new brain scan study has found further evidence that women are
especially vulnerable to the harmful effects of excessive drinking.
Scientists in Germany carried out CT scans on the brains of 158
volunteers, including 76 alcoholic men and women and 82 healthy
"controls".
Professor Karl Mann, from the University of Heidelberg who led the
project, said the effects of alcohol on women soon became apparent as
did the rapid development of the damage: "We were able to confirm the
telescoping course of alcohol dependence in women, meaning faster
progression of the developmental events leading to dependence among
female alcoholics and an earlier onset of adverse consequences.
"We confirmed greater brain atrophy in alcoholic women and men
compared to healthy controls. Furthermore, the women developed equal
brain-volume reductions as the men after a significantly shorter
period of alcohol-dependence than the men."
These gender-related effects all occur earlier in women than in men
even when they are significantly less exposed to alcohol, added
Professor Mann.
Some experts have blamed the rise in women’s greater use of alcohol on
a "ladette" culture. Model Jordan and singer Charlotte Church have
both been linked to the trend.
The charity Alcohol Concern last night said the findings were alarming
in the light of reports of increasing problem drinking among British
women.
Srabani Sen, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, said: "We know that
women metabolise alcohol differently from men and absorb it into their
bodies more quickly.
"The findings need to be viewed in the light of the fact that women
are drinking more and more. In that context, this research is quite
worrying."
According to Alcohol Concern, alcohol problems affect eight million
people in the UK, many of whom do not regard themselves as having a
problem, and this number is rising.
The Department of Health recommends that men should not drink more
than three to four units of alcohol a day, and women should drink no
more than two to three. These benchmarks apply whether drinking every
day, once or twice a week, or occasionally.
The proportion of women in the UK drinking more than 14 units of
alcohol per week soared from 10 per cent in 1988 to 17 per cent in
2002.
One unit is roughly equivalent to half a pint of beer or a small glass
of wine.
Young women aged 16 to 24 are particularly prone to binge drinking,
with 49 per cent cramming their weekly consumption of alcohol into one
to three days.
A total of 17 per cent of adult women reported drinking more than 14
units a week in 2002. Of these, 3 per cent drank at a high-risk level
of more than 35 units a week.
A separate research study released yesterday into alcohol and violence
in licensed premises, by Dr Alasdair Forsyth of Glasgow Caledonian
University, found women who binge drink were just as likely as men to
get involved in fights in pubs. His study, which involved researchers
visiting eight city- centre pubs in Glasgow, found a "surprising"
number of women involved in alcohol-related fighting.
Inspector John Duffy, a community safety officer with Strathclyde
Police, said ladette culture had been growing over the past 20 years.
"Young women are now more emancipated in that they socialise more
freely than they would have in the past. The spin-off is risk-taking
behaviour and drunkenness and you see that on the streets," said Insp
Duffy
.
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