Dating a girl who drinks beer

For women, alcohol can put you at greater risk of breast cancer and negatively affect fertility. It can also increase some side-effects of the menopause. So, whatever age you are, it’s important to keep an eye on your alcohol consumption and drink within the guidelines to keep risks from alcohol at a low level.

The health harms covered below are those specific to women but there are many others that affect people of all genders. You can find out more about these in our Health Effects of Alcohol section.

The low risk guidelines for women

The UK Chief Medical Officers' (CMO) advice is that both women and men should not regularly drink more than 14 units a week to keep health risks from alcohol low. If you do choose to drink that amount, it's best to spread your drinking evenly over three or more days. If you wish to cut down the amount you are drinking, a good way to do this is to have several drink-free days per week.

Find out if you're drinking too much 

How does alcohol affect women differently to men?

There are some similarities in how alcohol affects men and women, but there are differences too. 

If a woman and a man drink the same amount, the woman’s blood alcohol level will almost always be higher than the man’s. There are several reasons for this:

• Women tend to be smaller than men. That means, the same amount of alcohol is going into a smaller body.

• Even if a woman is the same weight as a man, she will have a higher blood alcohol level if she drinks the same amount as that man. Alcohol is held in the body in body water, not in body fat. Women generally have a higher proportion of body fat than men¹, so have less body water. That means the alcohol is more concentrated.

• It’s possible that some alcohol is broken down in the stomach before it reaches the bloodstream. This may happen less in women if they drink a lot of alcohol².

Alcohol increases your risk of getting breast cancer

It’s clear from a number of large scale studies that there is a link between alcohol consumption and cancer. A 2014 report by the World Health Organisation concludes that around one in five (21.6%) of all alcohol-related deaths are due to cancer³. Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer among women⁴ so it’s important to be aware of how drinking alcohol can increase the risk of developing the disease.

The more you drink the higher your risk of developing cancer

Oxford University’s Million Women Study of 1.3 million women estimated that each additional alcoholic drink regularly consumed per day was associated with 11 additional breast cancers per 1000 women, in developed countries, up to age 75⁶.

Drinking alcohol also increases your risk of several other types of cancer, including liver, bowel, mouth, oesophageal cancer (gullet) and laryngeal cancer (voice box).

Learn more alcohol and cancer

Alcohol can affect your fertility

The UK Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines do not have specific advice on the effects of alcohol on fertility.  But they do have guidelines for those trying to conceive:  It’s recommended that women trying to have a baby, or pregnant women, should not drink alcohol at all to keep health risks to the baby as low as possible.

Alcohol can also disrupt a woman’s menstrual cycle. Studies have shown that even drinking small amounts can reduce the chances of conceiving^8,9.

Male fertility can also be affected by alcohol consumption. View our alcohol and men webpage for more information.

Alcohol and pregnancy

Drinking alcohol at any stage during pregnancy can cause harm to the baby⁷ and the more you drink, the greater the risk. This is why the UK Chief Medical Officers recommend that the safest approach is to not drink alcohol at all during pregnancy. 

If you are now pregnant and drank only small amounts of alcohol before realising you were pregnant, and stopped when you found out, the risk of harm to the baby is low.  However, if you are worried, you should talk to your doctor or midwife.

More about alcohol, fertility and pregnancy

Drinking alcohol can affect appearance

Tired eyes. Spots. Weight gain. There’s no doubt alcohol can have an effect on your appearance.

Alcohol interferes with the normal sleep process so you often wake up feeling – and looking – like you haven’t had much rest. Alcohol dehydrates your body too, including the skin. It’s also thought to deprive the skin of certain vital vitamins and nutrients.

With two large glasses of wine containing the same number of calories as a burger, it’s easy to see why regular drinking can make you gain weight. Alcohol also reduces the amount of fat your body burns for energy. Because we can’t store alcohol in the body, our systems want to get rid of it as quickly as possible, and this process takes priority over absorbing nutrients and burning fat¹⁰.

Alcohol and ageing

As we get older, we lose muscle and gain fat. We also break down alcohol more slowly. 

When women reach the menopause their bodies are affected by changing hormones. Alcohol can trigger some symptoms of the menopause, such as hot flushes and night sweats¹¹. Menopause can also disrupt your sleep because of night sweats and many women put on weight around this time as well. Alcohol often makes both of these issues worse.

As we get older, our bones slowly get thinner too, particularly in women after the menopause. Drinking a lot of alcohol can make this worse, increasing your risk of osteoporosis (a condition that affects the bones, causing them to become weak and fragile and more likely to break)¹².

Staying in control of your drinking

You can keep your risk low by staying within the CMOs’ recommended low risk guidelines.

Here are three ways you can cut back:

1. Have several drink-free days a week: If you want to cut down, a great way is to have several drink-free days a week. Test out having a break for yourself and see what positive results you notice. 

2. Find other ways to relax: Some people drink alcohol to relax, but in reality alcohol can make you feel even more stressed out. Try not to make alcohol key to your after work wind down. Consider some alternative stress-busters, like hitting the gym or having a hot bath.

3. Know what you’re drinking: Check out the ABV of alcohol before you buy it. ABV stands for Alcohol by Volume, which is the percentage of the drink that is pure alcohol. Six glasses of wine at 13% ABV strength contain 15 units, putting you over the weekly low risk guidelines. You can cut down on units by switching to drinks that are lower in alcohol, or try having a spritzer with a small (125ml) measure of wine topped up with soda, instead of a large glass of wine. The Drinkaware app will help you to track the units in your drinks so you can be sure you’re staying within the guidelines. 

Further information

Your GP can help you figure out if you should make any changes in your drinking, and offer help and advice along the way.

• If you’re concerned about someone’s drinking, or your own, Drinkline runs a free, confidential helpline. Call 0300 123 1110

• The FPA can help you make informed choices about sex and contraception

• If you have questions about cancer, call the Macmillan Support Line free on 0808 808 0000 (Monday to Friday, 9am-8pm)

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