Why are the sensible drinking guidelines lower for women?
Alcohol has a greater effect on women than men, even when differences in body weight are taken into account. This is because women’s bodies have proportionately less water than men’s bodies. Because alcohol mixes with body water, alcohol becomes more highly concentrated in a woman’s body than in a man’s. Lastly, women’s livers produce less of the substance the body uses to break alcohol down (an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase). This means women are not only at risk of getting drunk quicker but the effects last longer.
