Women Who Quit Drinking Alcohol May Have Better Mental Well-Being

BOSTON (CBS) - More and more women are turning to alcohol, often to relieve stress from work or home life, but a new study finds that quitting alcohol could improve a woman's quality of life.

There is mounting evidence that even moderate alcohol intake in women could raise their risk of certain health conditions including breast cancer.

Now researchers at the University of Hong Kong looked at data on more than 40,000 men and women in Hong Kong and in the United States. They found that people who never drank had the highest level of mental well-being at the start of the study.

But they also found that women who were moderate drinkers at the start but quit drinking had a boost in their mental well-being, approaching that of the lifetime non-drinkers.