( CNN ) -- Concerns about alcohol abuse have been making headlines this week . A woman who drinks two glasses of wine every day is at risk for developing liver trouble , a doctor says . First , the Indian state of Rajasthan reportedly announced it would shut down 800 alcohol shops . Then , in Britain , chief medical officer Liam Donaldson recommended Thursday that anyone 15 years old and younger avoid alcohol completely . It 's no wonder people are worried . A recent survey of alcoholism studies in the Lancet suggests that men have more than a 20 percent lifetime risk of developing alcohol-use disorders , while women 's risk is 8 to 10 percent . Much of that risk is inherited . Studies show that as much as 60 percent of the risk of alcohol-use disorders is genetic , said Dr. Marc Schuckit , professor of psychiatry at the University of California , San Diego , and director of the alcohol and drug treatment program at the Veterans Affairs-San Diego Healthcare System , who wrote the Lancet article . The risk for alcoholism is four times greater for children of alcoholics , even those who are adopted by non-alcoholic families , Schuckit said . But people who have a genetically influenced disorder can control it by behaving responsibly . Just as someone at risk for diabetes should n't exacerbate the problem by becoming overweight , someone with a family history of alcoholism must avoid drinking too much . `` If you know you 're at risk , it 's your responsibility to avoid the problems , '' Schuckit said . Why is the risk so much greater in men than women ? Psychiatrists point out that young women also have twice the rate of depression and anxiety that men do , and daughters of alcoholic fathers tend more toward depression than alcoholism , said Dr. Charles Raison , psychiatrist and director of the Mind/Body Institute at Emory University in Atlanta , Georgia . `` There may be a similar underlying neurobiology to a lot of psychiatric conditions , and how they manifest in particular has something to do with circumstances , has something to do with gender , and has something to do with age , '' Raison said . There are also cultural factors in this gender pattern , but less is known about them , he said . He said women tend toward alcoholism in their 40s and 50s -- which may be their way of counteracting anxiety -- around the time that men tend to develop depression . Another genetic trait is involved in sensitivity to alcohol . Japanese , Chinese , and Korean people tend to have a mutation in their alcohol-metabolizing genes that makes them more sensitive -- meaning they tend to drink less than people from other backgrounds , he said . Data show that the earlier you start drinking away from your family , the greater the risk of alcohol problems later in life , he said . On average , people begin drinking apart from the family at 15 , a number that has n't changed much in decades , Schuckit said . How much is too much ? Male livers can metabolize about twice as much alcohol as females ' , meaning men can drink about twice as much as women before it becomes dangerous , Raison said . `` A woman who drinks two glasses of wine every day of her life is actually at risk for developing liver trouble , '' Raison said . Recommended drinking habits vary from person to person . To reap the health benefits from wine , a glass to a glass-and-a-half a day is recommended for women , and twice that amount for men , he said . Getting help . Treating alcoholism is similar to helping people with other chronic conditions -- for example , getting a diabetic person to be compliant with medications , Schuckit said . With both alcoholism and diabetes , therapy involves working with a person to alter behavior and help watch for signs of relapse . `` The core of treatment for any long term chronic disorder that requires changes in how you do things in life is to help people to recognize that they have a problem , and they can do something about it , '' Schuckit said . A combination of medication and cognitive-behavioral therapy is usually the best treatment option for alcoholism , Schuckit said . Cognitive-behavioral therapy involves changing a person 's mindset -- recognizing the problem -- and improving behavior . Three medications are available in the U.S. to treat alcoholism , Schuckit said . A drug called acamprosate targets the nervous system and helps people decrease their craving by allowing them to sleep better and feel less anxious . Naltrexone , on the other hand , blocks opioid receptors and dampens the good feelings that would normally come along with drinking . These two in combination work slightly better than either alone , he said . A third option is disulfiram , which actually paralyzes the ability of one of the alcohol metabolizing enzymes to work , he said . That makes it especially nauseating and , in rare cases , deadly , for a person taking the drug to drink alcohol . Support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous that offer 12-step programs are great resources , and they 're free , Schuckit said . While imperfect , 12-step programs are often the best option , Raison said .
Study : Men have more than a 20 percent lifetime risk of alcohol-use disorders . Three medications are available in the U.S. to treat alcoholism . As much as 60 percent of the risk of alcohol-use disorders comes from genes .