Know… about women and alcohol
Although many of the harmful health effects of alcohol are experienced by both men and women, research shows that women may be particularly vulnerable to the harm caused by alcohol in relation to the following areas:
Breast cancer
A global study of women’s drinking behaviour has found that alcohol could increase your risk of breast cancer. The more you drink the greater the risk.
Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in women. In Northern Ireland breast cancer has steadily increased from 769 incidences in 1993 to 1075 in 2005 (peaking at 1140 in 2004).
Scientists think that the link between alcohol and breast cancer could be down to the effect alcohol has on our sex hormones. Drinking alcohol changes the levels of hormones that you have in your body, including the female sex hormone oestrogen. Oestrogen is essential for normal sexual development and the functioning of female reproductive organs. It also acts to help to maintain healthy bones and heart. But this hormone can also increase the risk of breast cancer and is known to stimulate the growth of many breast cancers.
Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death among women. As far as the risk of getting breast cancer is concerned, the more you drink the greater the risk. There are other risk factors, some of which we have no control over, but alcohol is one of the risk factors we can control.
For further information on cancer services in Northern Ireland, visit www.cancerni.net
Liver
The effect alcohol has on a woman’s liver is more severe than on a man’s.
In addition to being unable to ‘break down’ alcohol as quickly as a man’s, a woman’s liver takes longer to repair itself when damaged. Regularly drinking more than the daily recommended guidelines can cause serious liver damage.
In Northern Ireland the number of hospital admissions for women suffering from alcoholic liver disease has increased by over seven times in the last ten years.
Liver disease is sometimes referred to as a ‘silent killer’. It takes years to fully develop and there are usually no symptoms until you reach the advanced stages so people may have the disease without knowing until years down the line, when the damage is already done.