Oops: women can really handle alcohol worse than men

If you think that you in terms of alcohol consumption are really ‘one of the guys’, then let me help you out of that dream. And that has nothing to do with sexism at all, no, unfortunately. I found another study where this statement is simply backed up by science. Women can handle alcohol less well. We women get drunk faster and there's nothing we can do about it.

It's actually so unfair, but there's nothing to be done. The female body has a much smaller amount of the enzyme that breaks down alcohol. That enzyme is called alcohol dehydrogenase and ensures that men can handle a drink much better, but also that women stay drunk longer. Yippee-ki-yay.

And that difference between men and women turns out to be quite significant. A study involving 43 men and women (okay, okay; not a gigantic group) concluded that women have 30 percent more alcohol in their blood after drinking the same amount. THIRTY. I don't know about you, but I really think that's a huge difference. All because we lack that silly little enzyme? Great.

But it gets worse. When a woman has an alcohol problem (or whether a normal student life falls under this was not clear to me), the small amount we do have of those enzymes also disappears. So then that difference with a healthy man becomes even greater. For comparison: a man with an alcohol addiction has only half of the enzymes he would have if he were healthy. We have nothing. NOTHING.

The only thing we can do to prepare is to eat well beforehand, because that really helps. Alcohol goes through your stomach so it's handy if that stomach is filled before you throw that drink in. That sounds logical of course. But, that drinking contest with the guys… Just skip that.