Women's heavy drinking and coronary heart disease risk

Main Category: Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs
Article Date: 28 Jan 2004 - 0:00 PST

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Heavy drinking significantly increases a woman's risk of coronary heart disease, research has found.

A study by University College London found women who drank more than the recommended safe limit of 21 units a week increased their risk by 57%.

Overall death rates were seven times higher among women who drank two or more times a day than in those who drank less than three drinks a week.

The research, based on data on 3,374 women, is published in Addiction.

The difference in death rates among men was much smaller - with those drinking more frequently just two and a half times at greater risk.

But being teetotal was also associated with an increased danger - those who did not drink at all had an 80% increased risk of heart disease compared with those who had a couple of drinks a week.

But the researchers said this did not mean that women who did not drink should now start, due to the many other risk factors associated with both heart disease and alcohol consumption.

Moderation

Lead researcher Dr Annie Britton said: 'Small and often is probably the best method for drinking but we certainly wouldn't endorse people who don't drink (to) go out and start as a result of this and other studies.

'The best advice is not to drink more than the government's guidelines of around 21 units for women.

'Many previous studies have focused on the risks experienced by middle-aged men, but we are becoming increasingly aware that alcohol consumption among women is a real health issue.'

The Cabinet Office is set to publish its long-awaited National Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy next month amid growing concern at a big rise in the number of people who drink to excess.

Research published by the charity Alcohol Concern last year found more than three million people in the UK are so addicted to alcohol they cannot get through the day without a drink

Dr Britton said the government was right to be focusing policy on this issue.

'The large amount of drinking among young women seems to be quite a new phenomenon.

'We are not yet seeing the long-term effects and it could be 20 years before we know what effect it has had.

'Our study is a snapshot of what could happen.'

Many risks

Lesley King-Lewis, chief executive of the charity Action on Addiction, said the findings illustrated the significant risks that women were exposed to by drinking heavily.

'Women are more vulnerable than men to alcohol in many ways. Women have lower levels of alcohol dehydrogenase, the enzyme that breaks down alcohol.

'This in combination with a smaller stature and lower body water content, means that women get drunk faster and stay drunk longer, which increases the health risks associated with alcohol.'

'Women who drink heavily are at significantly greater risk of developing liver disease, heart disease, hypoglycaemia and diabetes, breast cancer, fertility problems and mental illness as a result of their drinking than men who drink heavily, and women who use oral contraceptives clear alcohol from their systems more slowly than those who don't.'

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