© 2026 ABC News

Women are recommended to drink half of what men do because of the different way their bodies process alcohol, which also puts them at greater risk for alcoholic hepatitis and other alcohol-related liver diseases, according to Mellinger.

\"Women are more susceptible to alcohol,\" she said. \"How a body reacts to alcohol is about body composition, fat to water weight ratios, where and how many of the enzymes that metabolize alcohol we have in our stomach and in our GI tracts and in our liver, and that's different for women and men.\"

Women may also fall prey to the false notion that wine does not affect the body the same way as other alcohol, like hard liquor, according to Mellinger.

\"That's an important myth to dispel, that somehow wine is not going to cause problems,\" she said. \"The liver doesn't distinguish the alcohol in wine versus the alcohol in Jack Daniels. It's the same.\"

What women can do

Mellinger and Chung both said that people can drink responsibly, but should be aware that every sip of alcohol they take will have an impact internally on his or her body.

The good news is that in the earlier phases of liver disease, including cirrhosis and alcoholic hepatitis, the damage may be reversible, according to Mellinger.

\"In those earlier phases of liver disease, it's pretty much completely reversible if you stop drinking,\" she said. \"Your inflammation will improve and even scar tissue of the liver can heal and resolve itself with alcohol stopping.\"

Even in advanced stages of alcohol-related liver disease, there can be improvement if alcohol usage is stopped, explained Mellinger.

\"I have patients who are placed on the [liver] transplant list because they're so sick, they do that great work of stopping drinking and a year or two later we're taking them off the transplant because they don't need it,\" she said. \"Even at those most advanced stages, it's not hopeless by any stretch.\"

Early symptoms of liver disease can be vague, which can make it more difficult for people to get help in an earlier stage of disease, according to Mellinger.

She said people with early stages of alcohol-related liver disease may feel discomfort in their upper abdomen and may feel sick to their stomach. If a person is worried about the effect of their alcohol intake, Mellinger recommends asking their doctor to check their liver enzymes.

\"If you get a study like that and your liver enzymes are elevated, that might be a sign that you want to cut back,\" she said. \"And sometimes the damage is happening and we won't see it on imaging or on labs.\"

In order to help prevent a diagnosis of alcohol-related liver disease at all, Mellinger and Chung said people should take an honest look at their drinking habits, taking in factors including how often they are drinking and how much they are drinking in a specific amount of time.

They should also familiarize themselves with the recommended serving sizes of alcohol, so pouring five ounces of wine into a wine glass, for example, to see how much is considered one drink.

\"This is a potentially toxic drug and it should be viewed as that,\" Chung said of alcohol. \"We understand that it does many things to make people feel good but it has to be understood as the toxin that it is, and that it doesn't take a great deal to cause significant organ damage.

\"It's very important for people to square up with and be honest with themselves on the amount of alcohol they're consuming and whether they're getting close to that boundary or threshold,\" he said.

If you or someone close to you needs help for a substance use disorder, call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or visit FindTreatment.gov, SAMHSA's Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator.

","canonicalUrl":"https://abcnews.com/GMA/Wellness/alcohol-related-liver-disease-rise-young-women-amid/story?id=76772645","legacySlug":"/wellness/story/alcohol-related-liver-disease-rise-young-women-amid-76772645","noIndexNoFollow":false},"publishTime":"08:04","publishDate":"04-06-2021","updatedTime":"01:41","updatedDate":"04-07-2021","socialImage":{"alt":"An undated stock photo depicts a woman drinking wine at home alone.","credit":"STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images","ratio":"16x9","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/alcohol-2-gty-er-210401_1617313419115_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg","width":992,"height":558},"datePublished":"4/6/2021 08:04:00 GMT","video":{"live":false,"id":76772645,"headline":"Alcohol complications rise among women: Experts","mediaAssetTitle":"GMA_Liver disease and women_210330","description":"Alcohol use has been on the rise during the coronavirus pandemic.","duration":"1:30","posterImg":{"url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","width":608,"height":342},"video":{"feed":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2018/10/181004_gma_digital_gisele_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8"},"playlist":["76814947","68352046","76676586"]},"relatedItems":[{"contentType":"story","date":"April 2, 2021","headline":"I'm a mom who drank every day amid the pandemic. Here's what women need to know.","section":"family","slug":"/family/story/mom-drank-alcohol-daily-amid-covid-19-women-76814947","id":76814947,"image":{"alt":"I'm a mom who drank every day amid the pandemic. Here's what women need to know.","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/lainy-warnecke-main-ht-jt-210402_1617379245001_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Lainy Warnecke","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"January 17, 2020","headline":"Binge drinking is on the rise, new report shows","section":"wellness","slug":"/wellness/story/binge-drinking-rise-risks-68352046","id":68352046,"image":{"alt":"Binge drinking is on the rise, new report shows","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/bar-drinks-rf-gty-jc-200117_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"April 3, 2021","headline":"Baby boom or baby bust? Pandemic could have lasting effect on birth rates.","section":"news","slug":"/news/story/baby-boom-baby-bust-pandemic-lasting-effect-birth-76676586","id":76676586,"image":{"alt":"Baby boom or baby bust? Pandemic could have lasting effect on birth rates.","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Health/covid-birthrates-pandemic-pregnancy-03-sh-llr-210327_1616866894517_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"STOCK IMAGE/Pixel-shot/Shutterstock ","ratio":"1x1"}}],"relatedContentSection":"news","schemaContent":{"name":"Alcohol complications rise among women: Experts","description":"Alcohol use has been on the rise during the coronavirus pandemic.","duration":"1:30","uploadDate":"04-06-2021","publication":"04-06-2021","images":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","url":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2018/10/181004_gma_digital_gisele_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","contentUrl":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2018/10/181004_gma_digital_gisele_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","link":"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/wellness/story/alcohol-related-liver-disease-rise-young-women-amid-76772645"}},"playlist":[{"id":"133390157","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133415361","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133414032","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133380485","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133358298","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133350119","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133307515","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133307527","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133282665","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133220149","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133179167","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133144373","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133144059","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133143081","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133075455","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133063114","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133063086","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133015093","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132998564","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132998072","contentType":"story","section":"news"}],"kvps":{"pgtyp":"article","lang":"en","sp":"goodmorningamerica","programmatic":"true","bundleId":"com.abcnews"}},"analytics":{"accountID":"wdgnewwdgnewgmaweb","ns":"gma","pageName":"gma:wellness:video","pageType":"video","globalSpecVersion":"v1.08","siteDifferentiator":"gma:site","tagID":"g_page01","userABCookie":"0","section":"wellness","title":"Alcohol complications rise among women: Experts","pubTime":"04:04","pubDate":"04-06-2021","modTime":"21:41","modDate":"04-06-2021","taxonomyTags":"none","id":76772645,"editorialOtherSubjects":"","wordCount":"none","columns":"none","authors":"","authorsUnit":"none","authorsBureau":"none","subBrand":"Good Morning America","provider":"Good Morning America","videoName":"Alcohol complications rise among women: Experts","mediaAssetTitle":"GMA_Liver disease and women_210330","videoId":76772645,"mediaOnPage":"video","legacySlug":"/wellness/story/alcohol-related-liver-disease-rise-young-women-amid-76772645"},"taboola":{}},"request":{"headers":{},"httpVersion":"1.1","method":"GET","url":"/video/76772645","vary":{"host":"www.goodmorningamerica.com","cached":true,"path":"/video/76772645","forwarded-proto":"https","device":"desktop","userab":"0"}},"viewport":{"width":1260,"height":0},"user":{}};