In 1990, the NIAAA issued guidelines that define low-risk drinking, which differ for both the sexes: no more than four drinks per day, and 14 drinks per week for men, and no more than three drinks per day, and seven drinks per week for women.

Bettina B. Hoeppner of the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Addiction Medicine, an assistant professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School as well as corresponding author for the study, said “recommended drinking limits are lower for women than for men because research to date has found that women experience alcohol-related problems at lower levels of alcohol consumption than men.