The gender gap for alcohol abuse is narrowing worldwide
More men than women use and abuse alcohol, but the gender gap is narrowing.
Researchers extracted data from 68 studies of alcohol consumption published worldwide from 1948 to 2014. They divided alcohol use into three broad categories: any alcohol use, problematic alcohol use, and alcohol-related harms. Then they arranged the data by age, dividing people into groups depending on when they were born.
The study, in BMJ Open, found that in all three categories, the difference between men and women is greater in older cohorts. For example, men born between 1911 and 1915 were 2.4 times as likely to use alcohol as women, 2.7 times as likely to abuse it, and 3.6 times as likely to suffer alcohol-related health problems.
By contrast, in the youngest group, born between 1991 and 2000, men were 1.1 times as likely as women to use, 1.2 times as likely to abuse, and 1.3 times as likely to suffer from alcohol’s ill effects.
The lead author, Tim Slade, an associate professor at the University of New South Wales, said that, based on other studies, the amounts of alcohol being consumed overall seem to be declining.
But, he added, “Women are now drinking as much as men, particularly in recent cohorts, and we need to be thinking about what will happen to their health as they get older.”
For diets, drink water
Diet sodas may undermine weight loss efforts, a new study suggests.
Researchers put 81 overweight women with Type 2 diabetes on the same weight-control diet, except that half drank diet beverages five times a week after their main meal at lunch, while the other half substituted plain water. The study is in Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism.
After 24 weeks, the water group had lost an average of 14 pounds, while the diet soda group lost 11.5 pounds. Average body mass index declined by 2.49 in the water group compared with 2.06 in the diet-drink group. Compared with the diet soda group, the water group also had greater improvements in fasting insulin, postprandial glucose level and other measures of diabetes severity.
Waist circumference declined in those who drank water or diet beverages, with no significant difference between the two groups.
According to the senior author, Dr. Hamid Farshchi, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Nottingham, the mechanism remains unclear.
But, he said, “The best drink for your health not only for weight loss but also for carbohydrate metabolism is water. Still, obese people are used to a sweet taste, and it’s very difficult for them to just say goodbye to sugary food.”