American women are starting to drink more alcohol and men are starting to drink less, a National Institutes of Health study out Monday shows.
"We found that over that period of time, differences in measures such as current drinking, number of drinking days per month, reaching criteria for an alcohol use disorder, and driving under the influence of alcohol in the past year, all narrowed for females and males," said Aaron White, a senior scientific advisor at National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, in a statement. "Males still consume more alcohol, but the differences between men and women are diminishing."
White and his team of researchers reached that conclusion by looking at annual surveys from 2002 to 2012. The results aren't good news for women, who are at greater risk for various alcohol-related health effects.
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The reasons behind the shift aren't clear and would require further study, according to the report. Read more about the study here.
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