Let’s take a moment to reflect on a curious dichotomy between how wedlock affects the drinking habits of husbands and wives. Long-term marriage leads women to drink more — and men to drink less — than they did before they tied the knot.  At least that’s the suggestion of an analysis of longitudinal data from 5,305 men and women interviewed over the course of six years at different points in their marriage.

5356_thumbThe results show that married men consume fewer drinks compared to their single, divorced or widowed peers. On the other hand, women consumed more drinks than those recently widowed.

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Now before you go jumping to the conclusion that wedded women are simply drowning the aggravations of marriage in their martinis, the more likely cause for the disparity is that spouses are simply conforming to their mutual habits and the circumstances of married life. Men are spending fewer nights out drinking with the boys.

Since men, in general, consume more alcohol than women, their wives’ uptick in tippling is attributable to their tending to match their husband’s habits.

But how do these factors impact health? While excessive drinking raises risk for both genders — higher stroke risk, bigger waistlines, lasting brain damage and liver disease to name a few — women’s brains are much more vulnerable to the ravages of alcohol abuse.

Moreover, even one drink a day hikes breast cancer risk — especially among younger women of reproductive age. Finally, we ALL lose the ability to effectively metabolize alcohol as we get older — with regular drinking in the golden years aggravating nutrient deficiencies, as alcohol intake can deplete levels of folate, B-6 and omega-3.

What to do? If you’re worried about your own alcohol intake, try developing new habits, like switching to non-alcoholic beer, which actually beats regular beer on health benefits. Or drinking grape juice, which raises “good” cholesterol (HDL) without the attendant health risks.

This article was originally created by the Dole Nutrition Institute.