24Drs好健康報:飲酒對女性較沒有吸引力？
好健康熱頭條 ─ 飲酒對女性較沒有吸引力？ Alcohol: Less Sedating to Women?
好健康小單字─酒精耐受性（alcohol tolerance）
好健康熱頭條 ─ 飲酒對女性較沒有吸引力？
相較於男性，女性易受許多飲酒所帶來的負面影響；不過，最新研究指出，她們至少有一個部份較不會受影響。
杜克大學的研究員所做的動物實驗顯示，雌鼠對酒的鎮靜作用（sedating effect），沒有雄鼠那麼敏感；研究團隊指出，這項研究或許能解釋，相較於男性，為何較少女性成為酗酒者。
杜克大學精神病學教授Scott Swartzwelder博士向WebMD表示，女性會有酒精濫用問題的比例是男性的一半，這可能有許多的原因，包括在社交場合中，世俗對男性飲酒的接受度較女性為高；而也可能是女性大腦對酒的主要吸引效用之一較不敏感。
【性別和酒之間的關係】
顯然地，在談到飲酒時，男女的確是生而不平等的。
在喝了等量的酒之後，女性血中的酒精濃度較男性為高，而且她們會變得較脆弱；但事實上，女性的體重一般來說較男性為輕，這是重要的原因，卻不是唯一的因素。
研究中，專家推測性別相關的差異是在大腦的化學變化和荷爾蒙，這些可能會在酒的影響中扮演重要角色。
【行為和大腦間的關係】
杜克研究團隊同時進行成年期和青少年期的雄鼠和雌鼠，在行為和大腦化學反應方面的研究，以期更瞭解這些差異；他們的研究發現發表於元月號的《酒精中毒：臨床和實驗研究》期刊中。
Swartzwelder博士研究團隊提出報告指出，相較於成年期的老鼠，青少年期的老鼠對酒精的鎮靜作用較無抵抗力；至於青少年期的雄鼠和雌鼠間則無明顯的差異。
他們發現，對於鎮靜作用，雌鼠較雄鼠不易受影響。
在藉由科學之名使動物喝醉之後，Swartzwelder博士和研究員Young May Cha將它們放在他們那邊，並測量它們再站立起來的能力，一項在動物實驗中能被接受的意識測量方法，叫做「本能反應」（righting reflex）。
在另一項研究中，研究人員看著酒精影響大腦中對酒反應的那一區；他們發現，相較於雄鼠，雌鼠的大腦細胞能讓這個區域的活動降低。
Swartzwelder博士表示，這個結果和我們的行為研究發現一致，它以細胞的層級顯示在酒的基本能力所造成的鎮靜作用上，雌鼠較不敏感。
【飲酒和荷爾蒙之間的關係】
研究人員同時發現，雌鼠在發情期時的不同時間點，對酒的鎮靜作用之敏感性有些許的不同，而這正呼應了人類女性的月經週期。
許多女性相信，在她們月經週期中不同時間的荷爾蒙改變，會造成她們對酒的反應有所影響；但Swartzwelder表示，杜克的研究發現似乎不為此論點背書。
他指出，月經期間有微小的影響，但它不會造成實質上的變化；不受月經期影響，女性對酒的鎮靜作用較不敏感。
他表示，研究的確支持，就像是青少年，女性需要特別注意評估其在酒醉後失能的程度。
Swartzwelder博士表示，相較於成人，青少年則更是脆弱，因為他們較不會因酒而有鎮靜反應，而是傾向於對其他和酒有關之所造成認知上的失能狀況較敏感；青少年也較會在平常不喝酒，卻在特定節日狂飲。
他表示，青少年較有可能一次連乾十杯，而一週喝個兩次，而成人則是每晚喝個一、兩杯；如果青少年在喝酒後不覺得想睡，他們則會試著去開車或是做其他不該在酒醉後做的事。
他們當時的狀況就是半醉半醒的孩子，缺乏判斷力，而這正是我們不樂於見到的。
Alcohol: Less Sedating to Women?
Women are more vulnerable to many of alcohol's adverse effects than men, but new research suggests that in at least one respect they are less so.
Animal studies conducted by researchers at Duke University show that female rats are less sensitive than males to alcohol's sedating effect. The findings may help explain why fewer women than men become alcoholics, says the study's researcher.
"Women are only half as likely as men to develop alcohol abuse problems," Duke professor of psychiatry Scott Swartzwelder, PhD, tells WebMD. "There are probably many reasons for this, including the fact that drinking is more socially acceptable for men than for women. But it may also be that the female brain is less sensitive to one of the main attractive effects of this drug."
Gender and Alcohol
It is clear that when it comes to drinking alcohol, men and women are not created equal.
Women achieve higher concentrations of alcohol in the blood and become more impaired than men after drinking equivalent amounts of alcohol. The fact that women tend to weigh less than men is a big reason for this, but not the only one.
In the report, experts speculated that gender-related differences in brain chemistry and hormones may play a role in the effects of alcohol.
Behavior and the Brain
The Duke research team conducted both behavioral and brain chemistry studies on male and female adolescent and adult rats in an effort to better understand these differences. Their findings are published in the January issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.
Swartzwelder and colleagues reported that adolescent rats were less vulnerable to the sedative effects of alcohol than adult rats. There was no significant difference between the adolescent male and female rats.
They found that the female rats were less sensitive than the males to the sedative effects of the alcohol.
After getting the animals drunk in the name of science, Swartzwelder and researcher Young May Cha placed them on their side and measured their ability to stand up again -- an accepted measure of consciousness in animal studies known as the "righting reflex."
In a separate study, the researchers looked at alcohol's impact on the part of the brain that is activated in response to alcohol. They found that brain cells from female rats promoted less activity in this region than cells from male rats.
"This paralleled our behavioral findings," Swartzwelder says. "It shows at a cellular level that when it comes to alcohol's basic ability to promote sedation, females are less sensitive."
Drinking and Hormones
The researchers also found that the female rats showed slight differences in susceptibility to the sedating effects of alcohol at different points in their reproductive estrous cycle, which corresponds to a human female's menstrual cycle.
Many women believe that hormonal changes at different times during their menstrual cycle affect their response to alcohol, but Swartzwelder says the Duke findings do not appear to back this up.
"Cycle stage had a slight impact, but it didn't make a substantial difference," he says. "Independent of cycle stage, females were less sensitive to the sedating effect of alcohol."
He says the findings do suggest that, like adolescents, females need to be especially cautious about assessing their level of impairment while drinking.
Swartzwelder says that adolescents, especially, may be particularly vulnerable because they are less sedated by alcohol but tend to be more susceptible to other alcohol-related cognitive impairments than adults. They also tend to binge drink more.
"Adolescents are more likely to drink 10 beers in a row twice a week, while adults are more likely to have a drink or two every night," he says. "If adolescents feel less sleepy after drinking, they may be more inclined to drive or do other things they shouldn't be doing. What you have is an awake, drunk kid with poor judgment, and that is exactly what you don't want."
SOURCES: Cha, Y.M. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, January 2006; vol 30: pp 1-6. H. Scott Swartzwelder, PhD, professor of psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, fact sheet on Women and Alcohol, December 1999. Young May Cha, research analyst, Duke University Medical Center.
WebMD Medical News
by Salynn Boyles
Reviewed By Louise Chang
好健康小單字─酒精耐受性（alcohol tolerance）
酒精耐受性是評估酒精依賴的一項指標，也是長期持續酗酒的特徵之一，需要更多的酒精才能達到先前相同的效果，不過，到了後期患者的耐受力反而降低，導致比先前少量的酒精也可能出現中毒現象。
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