Research has revealed that excessive drinking causes brain damage in women more quickly than in men. The finding is particularly worrying in the light of reports that binge drinking among women is soaring. The study, published in the May 2007 issue of the Journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, supports evidence that the harmful effects of alcohol differ between the sexes.

A team of scientists at the University of Heidelberg in Germany took brain scans of 158 volunteers, 76 of whom were alcoholic men and women. They found they could use the brain scans to trace the progression of alcohol dependency in women. The scans revealed that alcohol-induced brain damage can be found much earlier in women than men. Most of the damage was seen in an area of the brain called the frontal lobes, which involves problem solving and memory formation. The women developed equal brain-volume reductions as the men during a significantly shorter period of alcohol dependence.

The researchers found that the number of women drinking more than 14 ounces of alcohol a week increased by 70% between 1988 and 2002. Women aged 16 to 24 were more prone to binge drinking, with 49% doing their consumption over a one to three day period.

The rise of excessive drinking among women was thought to be driven by increased economic independence, a trend to delay starting families, fewer social taboos and increased targeting by the drinks industry.

Another study done in Russia had similar findings, confirming that the brain-damaging effects of alcohol affect women more quickly than men. Researchers asked more than 100 alcoholics between the ages of 18 and 40, as well as 68 non-alcoholics, to complete a number of brain function tests. Female alcoholics performed worse on the tests for visual working memory, cognitive flexibility, and spatial planning and problem solving. The researchers noted that the duration of alcohol use was significantly longer for men (averaging 15 years) than women (averaging 11 years). Additionally, 91 percent of the women reported binge drinking, as opposed to only 72 percent of the men surveyed.

Research has shown that other physiological damage resulting from alcoholism, such as heart and liver problems, occur more quickly in women than in men. Women process alcohol differently than men because men have more water in their body, which dilutes the alcohol and enables them to drink more. Additionally, women have less of an enzyme that makes alcohol inactive. According to research, women who drink should not consume more than two or three ounces of alcohol a week.

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