Alcohol Harms Women More Quickly Than Men

German scientists have conducted a brain-scan study and found that women can become addicted to alcohol faster and suffer brain damage from it quicker than men. "Women have generally not been considered in brain-imaging studies, or samples have not been large enough to differentiate between women and men," said study author Karl Mann. "Conversely, male patients with alcohol dependence have historically been easier to recruit because the majority of alcoholic patients are male and the first evaluations of larger samples were carried out in soldiers." "Furthermore, study results were thought to be generally applicable to both genders," added Mann. "Yet gender differences in the development, course and consequences of alcohol dependence have to be considered in early diagnosis as this probably will lead to different therapeutic strategies." The study was conducted at the University of Heidelberg. 158 people including 76 alcoholics and 82 healthy people, volunteered to have their brains scanned for the study. BBC News latest ebusiness news