According to recent data, the number of women passing away from alcohol-related illnesses has increased dramatically. Experts attribute this increase to companies purposefully focusing their marketing efforts on women.
According to the most recent data, the number of women who died in this manner in the UK rose by 37% in just five years, from 2,399 to 3,293 between 2016 and 2021, the highest number since records have been kept.
The Office for National Statistics’ data indicates that although the number of deaths from alcohol-related diseases is still higher in men than in women, it is rising much more quickly in women. Over the same period, women’s deaths increased by 29%, from 4,928 to 6,348.
According to Debbie Shawcross, a professor of hepatology and chronic liver failure at the Institute of Liver Studies at King’s College London, liver disease is more common in female patients.
According to her, “women tend to present with more severe liver disease, particularly alcohol-related hepatitis, and do so at a lower daily alcohol intake and after a shorter period of excessive drinking than men.” “Differences in body composition and size—less muscle mass—can account for this.”
The “incessant marketing of drinks towards women,” according to Dr. Richard Piper, CEO of the charity Alcohol Change, is the primary cause of the surge. He also called for stricter regulation of alcohol advertising.
Alcohol is just as harmful as heroin and crack cocaine, according to Abigail Wilson of WithYou, a drug, alcohol, and mental health charity. She called the rise in women passing away from alcohol-related liver disease “very concerning.” In general, women are less likely than men to pass away from alcohol-related causes. There is always a gap there, but it is getting smaller, which is extremely worrisome.
Additionally, The Independent can report that:
- Between 2015 and 2021, the number of female deaths in England linked to alcohol-related liver disease increased from 1,533 to 2,190, representing a 42% increase.
- During the same period, the total number of male deaths associated with alcohol-related liver disease increased by 34% to 3,870 deaths.
- According to recent research, out of 33 countries, the proportion of British women who binge drink is joint highest.
- According to an exclusive WithYou poll, women make up nearly two thirds of those who look for help online, with over half doing so in relation to alcohol consumption.
- Staffordshire resident Roxanne Knighton spoke to The Independent about the suffering she went through when her mother Melanie passed away in March 2022 from liver disease brought on by alcohol. When she was in her late forties, the illness was diagnosed.
The 34-year-old recalled, “My mother drinking was all of my early memories.” “She was dependent on alcohol; it allowed her to function.”
According to Ms. Knighton, her mother was in denial about her drinking and never visited the doctor. Thus, Ms. Knighton took the call in its place.
She continued, “It was me who called the doctors because she was full of fluid and couldn’t get off the sofa.” She needed to be drained because it had entered her stomach; they were able to extract 12 liters.
“I was taking care of her every day. Four years passed before her death. It hurts even now. Not only did I lose her, but the alcohol took her life first. You shed them twice.
Dr. Piper expressed concerns regarding the intentional targeting of women in major alcohol brands’ annual reports, citing the “feminization” of alcohol marketing.
“Deaths are resulting from this,” he declared. “The second reason would be price; people are drinking more alcohol because it is more reasonably priced now than it has been in the previous 20 years.”
In order to make drinks with higher alcohol content more expensive, he called on ministers to implement stricter regulations on alcohol marketing and to implement minimum unit pricing for alcohol.
Other activists cautioned that because services are typically designed with men in mind, it is more difficult for women to get help for alcohol abuse. They claim that because women typically handle the majority of childcare, they are physically unable to find the time.
The rise in female liver disease deaths due to alcohol consumption was ascribed by Helena Conibear, CEO of the Alcohol Education Trust, to a notable surge in binge drinking during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Prof. Shawcross countered that women who battle alcoholism face more “cultural stigma” than men do, which may discourage them from getting treatment.
According to her, women also have lower levels of the enzyme that breaks down alcohol, and alcohol-related liver disease frequently goes years without showing any symptoms.
“With alcohol becoming increasingly accessible and affordable, as well as more ingrained in our culture, more women are drinking to levels that put their health at risk,” stated Vanessa Hebditch of the British Liver Trust.
Project manager Siobhan Herbert told The Independent that about 20 years ago, she began to drink one bottle of wine every night, and occasionally two bottles on weekend evenings.
The 52-year-old continued, “I drank less when I went out.” “I used to drink a little bit in secret. There would be no one to witness me being trolleyed at home. She was the same; my mother was an alcoholic. You would have thought that seeing all of that as a child and during my adolescence would have stopped you, but it is highly addictive.
According to Ms. Herbert, she gave up drinking in June 2022 because she could no longer stand the negative effects that alcohol was having on her physical and mental well-being.
“I wasn’t putting Baileys on my cornflakes, but I felt terrible every day,” she continued. I was nervous and exhausted. I am no longer the same woman. I sense my life. I’m more energized. I have more intelligence. I’m not anxious at all. All of the issues I was attributing to the menopause have significantly improved, and my depression has disappeared.
Sandra Parker, a self-described “classic binge-drinker,” admitted that she sometimes spent two days in bed after a blackout, making it difficult for her to gauge how much alcohol she had consumed.
The 54-year-old, who gave up alcohol in 2018, now works as a coach for women who want to cut back or quit drinking. She characterizes her clientele as middle-class, successful, and professional women who covertly consume excessive amounts of wine at home.
“They might not even drink when they go out with coworkers, but when they get home, they always have a bottle of wine,” she continued. “They’ve discovered that having a drink makes them feel less stressed, and that feeling turns into a dependency that they really want every night.”
“We are acting to support those most at risk because alcohol misuse can ruin lives and destroy families,” a spokesperson for the Department of Health stated.
