Researchers believe the change is because drinks are cheaper, created for and marketed at women 
 
 Women have caught up with men in the amount of alcohol they drink and are doing increasing amounts of damage to their health as a result, according to a global study that looked at the consumption habits of four million people over a period of over a century. 
 
 The change is partly the result of successful marketing campaigns and the creation of sweeter products aimed at young women or girls, as well as cuts in price, say health campaigners. Some studies have even suggested that younger women may be out-drinking men, according to the study’s authors. 
 
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 The researchers from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre of the University of New South Wales, Australia, say the conclusion is that public health efforts need to focus more on women. 
 
 “These results have implications for the framing and targeting of alcohol use prevention and intervention programmes. Alcohol use and alcohol-use disorders have historically been viewed as a male phenomenon. The present study calls this assumption into question and suggests that young women in particular should be the target of concerted efforts to reduce the impact of substance use and related harms,” they say. 
 
 Their analysis, published in the journal BMJ Open, looks at the convergence of drinking habits between men and women over time, from 1891 to 2014. It pools the results of 68 international studies, published since 1980, to look at the changing ratio of male to female drinking over the years. 
 
 Historically, far more men drank alcohol than women. Men born between 1891 and 1910 were twice as likely as their female peers to drink alcohol and more than three times as likely to be involved in problematic use or use leading to harms. But in all three respects, this had almost reached parity among those born between 1991 and 2000. 
 
 Women’s drinking has increased for a number of reasons. Those who have succeeded in obtaining jobs that were once the preserve of men have joined – or found it necessary to become part of – the after-work drinking culture. Office for National Statistics figures from 2011 show that women in management and professional jobs drink more than the average woman and drink more on weekdays. 
 
 But drops in the price, which have led to wine and beer becoming regular items in the supermarket shopping trolley and part of everyday life at home, have also been a factor, alongside deliberate marketing targeted at women. 
 
 “Since the 1950s we’ve seen women’s drinking continue to rise,” said Emily Robinson, director of campaigns at Alcohol Concern. “Drinking at home has continued to increase and because alcohol is so cheap and easily available it’s become an everyday grocery item. We’ve also seen a concerted effort from the alcohol industry to market products and brands specifically to women. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Some studies have even suggested that younger women may be out-drinking men, according to the study’s authors. Photograph: OJO Images / Rex Features 
 
 “We know from our annual Dry January campaign that people often don’t realise that alcohol has become a habit rather than a pleasure, with women having ‘wine o’clock’ most nights of the week. 
 
 “Drinking too much, too often, can store up future health problems, both mental and physical, with people not realising just how easy it is to go over recommended limits,” Robinson added. 
 
 “This is why we need mandatory health warnings on alcohol products and a mass media campaign to make sure the chief medical officer’s guidelines are widely known and understood.” 
 
 Sally Davies, the chief medical officer (CMO), changed the alcohol guidance earlier this year, advising both men and women they risked harm if they drank more than 14 units a week – previously the upper limit for men was 21 units. But she warned that there was no safe limit for anybody. 
 
 Katherine Brown, director of the Institute of Alcohol Studies, said: “Historically women did not drink that much. There has definitely been a proactive effort to entice women to drink more.” 
 
 
 
 Some of the drinks now available have been targeted at young women who “pre-load” while getting together to dress and do their make-up before a night out. Three large glasses of wine can be the equivalent of nine units, she added. 
 
 Babycham was the first drink specifically designed with women in mind in post-war Britain. Today there are many others including Lambrini, which is aimed entirely at young women. “Sweet or fruity? Lively, smooth – or are you a classic kind of girl? With a Lambrini tailored to complement your own personal style and taste, you’re going to love our new collection!” says the advertising on its website. 
 
 Alcohol advertising and sponsorship is also noticeable in TV programmes aimed at women. For example, Baileys backed Desperate Housewives. 
 
 Women’s bodies do not tolerate alcohol as well as men’s, however, because they have a higher fat to water ratio. Because they have less water, the alcohol in their system remains more concentrated. They also have smaller livers than men, which makes it harder to process alcohol safely. ||||| Women are catching up with men in terms of their alcohol consumption and its impact on their health, finds an analysis of the available international evidence, spanning over a century and published in the online journal BMJ Open. 
 
 The trend, known as 'sex convergence', is most evident among young adults, the findings show. 
 
 Historically, men have been far more likely than women to drink alcohol and to drink it in quantities that damage their health, with some figures suggesting up to a 12-fold difference between the sexes. But now evidence is beginning to emerge that suggests this gap is narrowing. 
 
 In a bid to quantify this trend over time, the researchers pooled the data from 68 relevant international studies out of a total of 314, all of which had been published between 1980 and 2014. All the studies included explicit regional or national comparisons of men's and women's drinking patterns across at least two time periods. 
 
 The studies included data collected between 1948 and 2014, representing people born as far back as 1891, all the way up to 2000, and including a total sample size of more than 4 million. Sixteen of the studies spanned 20 or more years; five spanned 30 or more. 
 
 The researchers used the following criteria to inform their data search: lifetime and/or current alcohol misuse or dependence; alcohol related problems; treatment for alcohol issues; and the timeframe of use and the development of related problems. 
 
 And they used 11 key indicators of alcohol use and associated harms for their analysis. 
 
 These were grouped into three broad categories of: any use, which included quantities and frequency; problematic use, which included binge/heavy drinking; and the prevalence of associated harms. 
 
 Births were grouped into cohorts--specific timeframes from 1891 to 2000--all of which spanned 5 years, with the exception of the first (1891-1910) and the last (1991-2000). 
 
 The pooled data showed that the gap between the sexes consistently narrowed across all three categories of any use, problematic use, and associated harms over time. 
 
 Men born between 1891 and 1910 were twice (2.2) as likely as their female peers to drink alcohol; but this had almost reached parity among those born between 1991 and 2000 (1.1). 
 
 The same patterns were evident for problematic use, where the gender gap fell from 3 to 1.2, and for associated harms, where the gender gap fell from 3.6 to 1.3. 
 
 After taking account of potential mathematical bias in the calculations, the gender gap fell by 3.2% with each successive five year period of births, but was steepest among those born from 1966 onwards. 
 
 The calculation used was not designed to address whether alcohol use is falling among men or rising among women, the researchers caution. 
 
 But among the 42 studies that reported some evidence for sex convergence, most indicated that this was driven by greater use of alcohol among women, and 5% of the sex ratios were less than 1, suggesting that women born after 1981 may actually be drinking more than their male peers, say the researchers. 
 
 While they did not set out to explain the reasons behind their observed findings, they emphasise that their results "have implications for the framing and targeting of alcohol use prevention and intervention programmes." 
 
 And they conclude: "Alcohol use and alcohol use disorders have historically been viewed as a male phenomenon. The present study calls this assumption into question and suggests that young women in particular should be the target of concerted efforts to reduce the impact of substance use and related harms." 
 
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 Research: Birth cohort trends in the global epidemiology of alcohol use an alcohol related harms in men and women: systematic review and metaregression http://bmjopen. bmj. com/ lookup/ doi/ 10. 1136/ bmjopen-2016-011827 ||||| Photo 
 
 More men than women use and abuse alcohol, but the gender gap is narrowing. 
 
 Researchers extracted data from 68 studies of alcohol consumption published worldwide from 1948 to 2014. They divided alcohol use into three broad categories: any alcohol use, problematic alcohol use, and alcohol-related harms. Then they arranged the data by age, dividing people into groups depending on when they were born. 
 
 The study, in BMJ Open, found that in all three categories, the difference between men and women is greater in older cohorts. For example, men born between 1911 and 1915 were 2.4 times as likely to use alcohol as women, 2.7 times as likely to abuse it, and 3.6 times as likely to suffer alcohol-related health problems. 
 
 By contrast, in the youngest group, born between 1991 and 2000, men were 1.1 times as likely as women to use, 1.2 times as likely to abuse, and 1.3 times as likely to suffer from alcohol’s ill effects. 
 
 The lead author, Tim Slade, an associate professor at the University of New South Wales, said that, based on other studies, the amounts of alcohol being consumed over all seem to be declining. 
 
 But, he added, “Women are now drinking as much as men, particularly in recent cohorts, and we need to be thinking about what will happen to their health as they get older.” ||||| The problem needs more scrutiny, the CDC says, and it put women's health at increased risk. 
 
 Binge drinking is an under-recognized problem for women and girls, according to a CDC report. (Photo: Eric Risberg, AP) Story Highlights 1 in 8 women report binge drinking 
 
 Binge drinking affects women differently than it does men 
 
 Distilled Spirits Council says the industry is working to discourage alcohol abuse 
 
 Binge drinking among women and girls is a health problem that is serious but under-recognized, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says in a report today. 
 
 About 1 in 8 women and 1 in 5 high school girls binge drink, according to the CDC's Vital Signs report. Binge drinking for women is defined as consuming four or more alcohol drinks, such as beer, liquor or wine, on an occasion. 
 
 The study found that binge drinking was most common among women ages 18-34 and high school girls. It also was most prevalent among women living in households with annual incomes of $75,000 or higher. 
 
 The report notes special concerns about binge drinking among women. Women and girls metabolize, or process, alcohol differently than men and boys. 
 
 The CDC warns binge drinking puts women at a higher risk for breast cancer, sexually transmitted diseases, heart disease and unintended pregnancy. Binge drinking during pregnancy can lead to fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and sudden infant death syndrome. 
 
 David Jernigan, director of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, says it is crucial that the problem is highlighted. 
 
 "We've watched a shift from girls drinking beer to distilled spirits," he says. "They are experimenting with the strongest form of the drug available." 
 
 The Distilled Spirits Council says the industry works to reduce binge drinking through programs such as The Century Council's "Girl Talk." "For women of legal drinking age, we continue to encourage them to follow the advice of the federal government's dietary guidelines," according to a statement. 
 
 The Dietary Guidelines for Americans define moderate alcohol consumption as up to one drink a day for women and up to two drinks a day for men. 
 
 CDC Director Thomas Frieden says there are ways to prevent excessive drinking. "Effective community measures can support women and girls in making wise choices about whether to drink or how much to drink if they do," he says. "Each of us can choose not to binge drink." 
 
 Binge drinking among females Percent Age group 
 
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– Women have almost achieved equality with men … when it comes to tying one on. Looking back on the imbibing habits of more than 4 million people globally over the last 100 years or so, Aussie researchers say the ladies have closed the drinking gap with men, partly due to marketing efforts and products geared toward young women, the Guardian reports. The University of New South Wales mega-study in BMJ Open journal looked at 68 studies covering the drinking habits of subjects born between 1891 and 2001. While guys born between 1891 and 1910 were twice as likely as women to drink alcohol and three times as likely to abuse it or experience booze-related "harms", all three aspects had reached near-equal status by the time scientists got to individuals born between 1991 and 2000. A press release calls that phenomenon "sex convergence." The study points to a bunch of cultural and economic reasons for the shift, including cheap wine and beer being readily accessible, more women working outside of the home and participating in workplace drinking events, and what the director of UK nonprofit Alcohol Concern calls a "concerted effort" by the alcohol industry to push products and brands on women. What all of this means, per the study's authors: Prevention and treatment programs need to start targeting the gals. "Women are now drinking as much as men ... and we need to be thinking about what will happen to their health as they get older," says lead author Tim Slade, per the New York Times. (Are women drinking more because of … sexism?)