There’s a reason why the wine consumption recommendations for women are just one glass a day while men get to have two.

That seems unfair, right? If you enjoy red wine and are a woman, you might already know that the American Heart Association, as well as other medical organizations, cite the limit of one glass a day for women…but then raise it to two for men.

Many women weigh as much as the average man, and many men are small in stature and slightly built.

Yet this rule of “one glass of wine a day for women and two for men” stands as universal—a one box fits all.

“Alcohol is metabolized differently in women and men,” says Suzanne Steinbaum, MD, a New York cardiologist for 20+ years and founder of SRS heart — a groundbreaking program for womens’ holistic health prevention. 

“In general, women have a smaller amount of body water, and simply adding alcohol to less water saturates the system greater.

“Women also have a lower activity of the alcohol metabolizer in the stomach, causing a larger proportion of alcohol to reach the bloodstream.”

Does this apply to tall, active, muscular women with fast metabolisms, and to short, underweight, inactive men?

Dr. Steinbaum responds, “Clearly, different sizes of people and body types play a role in how the body will respond to alcohol, but in general, women simply can’t process it as efficiently.”

The rule of one glass of wine a day for women and two for men is generalized so that it’s easier to follow, and so that it leaves little room, if any, for confusion or misinterpretation.

Interestingly, this rule rarely comes with the definition of “glass.”

However, here it is: One “glass” of wine = four ounces. That’s half a cup.

The rule, in a more refined presentation, is as follows: Women should limit their daily wine consumption to four ounces, and men to eight ounces.

Dr. Steinbaum has been awarded a New York Times Super Doctor, a Castle and Connolly Top Doctor for Cardiovascular Disease, and New York Magazine’s prestigious Best Doctors in the New York edition. She is on the NYC Board of the American Heart Association.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.  

 

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