The evidence is mounting about women and alcohol. Even when we take differences in weight into consideration, it's a fact:  women get drunk faster, with less alcohol than men.  There's no way around it: drink for drink, women can't hold their liquor like men. 

The Dilution Factor

You've read articles about how many drinks are "recommended" for men and women.  The guys always get to drink more. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism explains, "That's because women are at greater risk than men for developing alcohol-related problems. Alcohol passes through the digestive tract and is dispersed in the water in the body. The more water available, the more diluted the alcohol. [Usually], men weigh more than women and . . .women have less water in their bodies than men. Therefore, a woman's brain and other organs are exposed to more alcohol and . . .toxic byproducts that result when the body breaks down and eliminates alcohol."

Break It Down

Women aren't as efficient at metabolizing alcohol either. We used to think alcohol was broken down primarily in the liver.  We now know, that alcohol metabolism starts in the stomach and once again, men have an advantage. A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine (1990) found that women have only about half the levels of gastric alcohol dehydrogenase, a compound that breaks down alcohol, as men. It also found that the amount of alcohol metabolized after its first passage through a woman's liver and stomach is 23 percent of what it is in men.