Alcohol
Young British women out-drinking men
By IANS
Mar 22, 2006 - 1:20:00 AM

Young women are out-drinking men of the same age in Britain, says a study pointing out that many of them were beginning to suffer from liver disease in their late teens.

Professor Moira Plant of Bristol University analysed research collected in a major international study focusing on 12 European countries in 2004 and 2005, reported the online edition of BBC News.

"Britain seems to be the only country in which women are overtaking young men in the 18 to 24 age group," she said.

If young women in Britain continue to drink this way, they could present problems for the health service in the future, she said.

"There are now young women in their late teens and early 20s developing liver damage that in the past was not being seen until the age of 60 or 70," she added.

Alcohol abuse is also linked with stomach ulcers, damage to the oesophagus and damage to the brain.

She said elsewhere, and in the past in Britain, women tended to drink in a much safer way than men. Some of the reasons women used not to drink so extensively was they feared for their physical safety when they did. But this does not seem to be as much of an issue for them now, she added.

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