Women are Dying to Drink like Men
The English Chief Medical officer has warned that women are damaging their health by trying to drink like men. Prof Dame Sally Davies, chief medical officer for England said women are damaging their livers and putting themselves at risk for alcohol abuse, obesity and a whole host of other problems.
Our alcohol consumption is out of kilter with most of the civilised world,” she told Radio 4.
“We really have young people that binge drink and drink too much and it is damaging their livers young. Particularly girls don’t realise that our female livers don’t tolerate alcohol as well as men do. We should drink significantly less than men. Part of it is culture and part of it is price. We need to change both.”
While the rest of Europe has seen a decrease in liver disease and other alcohol related health problems, the UK has seen a one fifth increase. Davies said this is particularly worrying because the level of drinking in the UK is a completely preventable problem.
Currently, 16 out of every 100,000 people in England have liver disease. This is an incredibly long and costly disease which can result in being put on dialysis, liver transplants or jaundice.
Liver disease alone is one of the only major causes of premature death that is actually growing in the UK.
Davies said, “There are simple steps we can all take by cutting down on alcohol, eating less and moving more. Undiagnosed hepatitis B and C are also major causes of liver diseases. The NHS Commissioning Board forthcoming liver strategy should help address this.”
Some experts believe GPs should be doing more to educate their patients on the dangers of alcohol. Many people are simply unaware that their drinking habits may put them at risk of serious health problems. Live disease in particular is a very dangerous because there are often no symptoms of liver disease.
Most people think it is only heavy drinkers who can be affected but often times even moderate drinking can put you at an increased risk.
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