Alcoholic drinks labels will have the abbreviation “ABV” which shows the percentage of your drink that’s pure alcohol. For example, some ales https://ecosoberhouse.com/ are 3.5%, but some stronger lagers can be as much as 6% ABV. This means that just one pint of strong lager can contain more than three units of alcohol, so it’s important to know the strength of what you’re drinking. These may be more helpful than mixed-gender programs for some women, such as those who have suffered sexual or physical abuse.

• Evidence from a study that examined drinking history associations with regional white matter volumes in abstinent alcoholic men and women reported differences by sex.
• The average age of menopause is 51, but perimenopause typically starts eight to 10 years beforehand.
• They may be able to help determine your medical needs and could refer you to a suitable rehab facility.

Drinking during pregnancy–Never a good idea

Another factor is that liver function may be impacted by estrogen, Streicher said. Theoretically, lower estrogen levels could get in the way of metabolizing alcohol, but she noted that this hasn’t been well studied. Your liver also doesn’t metabolize alcohol as efficiently and quickly as you get older since your levels of enzymes that break down alcohol also start to decline, she said. Women have lower levels of these enzymes to start with and tend to have less body mass than men, so they naturally process alcohol differently — especially when they get older. During perimenopause, your levels of the hormone estrogen start to decline, and this can bring symptoms like hot flashes, low libido, irregular periods, vaginal dryness, mood changes and problems sleeping. Menopause is a normal part of the aging process for women and refers to the stage when menstrual periods end, and they can no longer get pregnant, according to the National Institute on Aging.

Alcohol affects women in unique ways

Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can cause an array of physical and mental birth defects, and is the leading preventable cause of mental retardation in the United States. When a pregnant woman drinks, alcohol passes through the placenta to her fetus. In the fetus’s developing digestive system, alcohol breaks down much more slowly than it does in an adult body, meaning that the fetus’s blood alcohol level can remain high for longer periods. These trends are disturbing, given that binge drinking not only carries women and alcoholism health risks for both men and women but also increases the chance of unwanted and unplanned sexual activity.

• Women often experience intense craving for alcohol which is a symptom of alcohol use disorder.
• Thirty percent (nearly one out of three) said people would think less of them if they received addiction treatment, and 53% agreed with the statement that women with alcohol/drug problems are more likely than men to be viewed negatively.
• A 2025 report by the Office of the Surgeon General said that consuming alcohol can raise your risk for breast, colorectal, throat, mouth, voice box, esophageal and liver cancer.

Sexual Orientation

Binge drinking is the consumption of a large amount of alcohol in a short period. For those assigned female at birth, binge drinking is consuming four or more drinks in less than 2 hours. Pay attention to how much you’re drinking as you reach perimenopause and menopause, Dick-Biascoechea said. Not only can it potentially worsen symptoms, it could raise your risk for other health conditions.

What Are The Health Risks For Women With Alcohol Use Disorder?

Thus, messaging in low-risk drinking guidelines needs to identify these and other gender-related vulnerabilities related to alcohol use. Other studies assessed intersectional factors related to alcohol use in pregnancy. For example, analyses of the social determinants of health underpinning foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) in South Africa add critical insight from an intersectional feminist perspective 77. The authors used an intersectionality wheel to conceptualize how the social and structural determinants of FASD identified in the literature are interconnected and indicative of broader inequalities shaping the lives of the affected women and children. All of these factors are at play in assessing the risk, safety, and impacts of alcohol use particularly on women and girls.

They found alcohol-attributable mortality to be strongly distributed to the disadvantage of persons with a low SES. In real life, sex and gender interact to determine the ultimate impacts on alcohol use by women and the consequences for women. Sex and gender interactions are enhanced when understood in an intersectional context and considering characteristics such as race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age, and other drug use. For example, sex and gender interact to stigmatize pregnant women and mothers regarding alcohol (and other substance) use 69, especially visibly pregnant women. While alcohol misuse by anyone presents serious public health concerns, women who drink have a higher risk of certain alcohol-related problems compared to men. Some individuals should avoid alcohol completely, such as women who drug addiction are pregnant or might be pregnant.

Finally, there are no standard definitions regarding what a standard drink is or what a social drinker is, and the findings from one study cannot be generalized to another study. Other gendered relational factors also matter in assessing risky alcohol use by women, such as vulnerability to sexual assault. One systematic review examined the evidence on the effects of alcohol intoxication on sexual assault risk information processing among young adult women 62. Thirteen of the fourteen identified studies report at least partial support for intoxication impairing the attention to cues, interpretation of social information, or intended behavioural response in a hypothetical sexual assault scenario. Sex-related differences and factors may also impact both subjective and objective experiences of alcohol ingestion and may manifest differently in those with AUD compared to binge or social drinkers. For example, a study on alcohol cue-induced activation showed that women with AUD activated different reward circuits, cognitive control circuits, and regions of the default-mode network compared to same sex controls 48.

Risk Factors that May Contribute to AUD in Women

Another systematic review explored enablers and barriers to women’s preconception lifestyle behaviours using several pre-established models and frameworks 71. The presence/absence of knowledge on healthy behaviours was the most commonly assessed enabler/barrier. Building opportunities for preconception interventions where alcohol guidelines can be routinely discussed and giving support related to the importance of and confidence for change are important 72,73. However, in the current context of an overloaded health care system, online preconception interventions may be the most feasible. Our search for systematic reviews published since 2017 related to gendered influences on women’s alcohol use identified 18 results, ten of which focussed on the gender influences on pregnant women and mothers.

It’s critical to address and break through stigma, because it can make women less likely to admit they have a problem, thereby preventing them from seeking help (Copeland, 1997; Kulesza et al., 2013). Despite different population and diversity profiles, many high-income countries have access to the same evidence and may experience similar trends in sex- and gender-related impacts. However, they do not uniformly translate the sex- and gender-related evidence into health promotion oriented low-risk drinking guidelines. We maintain that the evidence, while incomplete, is indicative of sex-specific factors that bear mentioning in health promotion, clinical guidance, and public education. Conveying sex-related differences is especially important for individuals in assessing their own risk and potentially changing their behaviours.