Asian Men Turning Red When Drinking

[cubsfan455]

Im of Asian decent and love to drink, but one problem, i turn bright red after a couple sips of alcohol. When I drink at partys and with the homies i dontcare but when i go out and drink or in the middle of the day it gets preety bad. Anybody else have this problem? I heard poppin a Pecid AD pill before drinkinghelp. thoughts?

 

[physicx]

lol

luckily it doesnt happen to me.

sucked for a few of my friends though. 10 min in and everybody would tease them for already being plastered

 

[nipxd]

HAH!

All my uncles turn red. My dad does too. Some of my friends do too.

I dont.

 

[freakydestroyer]

there's a way around it I dunno what it was? maybe it was pepcid AC

 

[nt og]

That's your gene...ALDH1.

Your body doesn't want you drinking that stuff man.

I'm Asian and I don't turn red though.

 

[jaw knee c]

you are missing an enzyme or something of that sorts. Pepcid AC works for some people, not all. just try it.

 

[nktran001]

I've read this somewhere before.. I'll try to find the article.

 

[jaypesoz]

you got that asian glow so yeah, pop some pepcid AD before you start drinking

 

[sharpiepoint]

pepcid ac, yes. take 2-3 depending on your body weight and the dosage of the pill. take it an hour or so before drinking.

 

[exile on ivy st]

You're in the wrong place man, there's no asians of any kind around here . .

 

[tubbbbbby]

NY times article on Flush.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/health/research/21alcohol.html?_r=3&emc=eta1&pagewanted=print

Drinkers' Red Face May Signal Cancer Risk
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR

People whose faces turn red when they drink alcohol may be facing more than embarrassment. The flushing may indicate an increased risk for a deadly throatcancer, researchers report.

The flushing response, which may be accompanied by nausea and a rapid heartbeat, is caused mainly by an inherited deficiency in an enzyme called ALDH2, a traitshared by more than a third of people of East Asian ancestry - Japanese, Chinese or Koreans. As little as half a bottle of beer can trigger the reaction.

The deficiency results in problems in metabolizing alcohol, leading to an accumulation in the body of a toxin called acetaldehyde. People with two copies ofthe gene responsible have such unpleasant reactions that they are unable to consume large amounts of alcohol. This aversion actually protects them against theincreased risk for cancer.

But those with only one copy can develop a tolerance to acetaldehyde and become heavy drinkers.

"What we're trying to do here is raise awareness of this risk factor among doctors and their ALDH2-deficient patients," said Dr. Philip J.Brooks, an investigator with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and an author of the report published on Monday in the journal PLoSMedicine. "It's a pretty serious risk."

The malignancy, called squamous cell esophageal cancer, is also caused by smoking and can be treated with surgery, but survival rates are very low. Evenmoderate drinking increases the risk, but it rises sharply with heavier consumption. An ALDH2-deficient person who has two beers a day has six to 10 times therisk of developing esophageal cancer as a person not deficient in the enzyme.

Reducing drinking can significantly reduce the incidence of this cancer among Asian adults. The researchers calculate that if moderate- or heavy-drinkingALDH2-deficient Japanese men reduced their consumption to under 16 drinks a week, 53 percent of esophageal squamous cell cancers in that group could beprevented.

There is some anecdotal evidence that young people treat the flushing as a cosmetic response to be countered with antihistamines while continuing to drink.Ignoring the symptom and continuing to drink is likely to increase the incidence of esophageal cancer, researchers said.

To determine risk, doctors can ask their patients two simple questions. First, do you flush after drinking a glass of beer? Second, in the first one or twoyears after you began drinking, did you flush after having a beer?

The second question covers the possibility that a person has become tolerant to the effect.

Dr. Brooks said that the two questions give doctors an easy way to find out if the patient is ALDH2-deficient. There is also a patch test in which anethanol-soaked pad is applied to the skin. If it causes reddening after 10 or 15 minutes, there is a high likelihood that the person is ALDH2-deficient.

 

[itz rolli]

im good money. no redness here.

 

[onlysomejordans]

Rolli.

 

[fraij da 5 11]

Lol i got a friend thats Korean... dudes glowing like a lamp after a couple drinks

 

[wwsindicate]

Saw this last night.

 

[fenixconnexion.]

thankfully it doesn't happen to me unless i drink a lot of liquor (i mainly stick to beer)

 

[fenixconnexion.]

thankfully it doesn't happen to me unless i drink a lot of liquor (i mainly stick to beer)

 

[slamcity]

Not a big drinker, but when I do drink, yeah I get red pretty fast

 

[keepzdasneakz]

I've chilled with the drinking. All the drinking in the beginning of college built up my tolerance quite a bit to about 5-6 drinks before i startedglowing. Nowadays I cooled down with all the drinking.

 

[elnino4530]

I've got a Japanese friend who ALWAYS turns red when she drink, she said it was some kind of allergic reaction but from the looks of it it isn't

 

[eight2one]

ive seen that happen a lot.

 

[solemate96]

Yea, I turn red after a beer. I don't drink much and that's why I hate drinking with my neighbor who happens to be Irish.

 

[jordan231025]

lack of the alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme....genetics.

 

[cubsfan455]

love that henney too much...oh well gotta lay off i guess.

 

[k2theablam]

It's the pigmentation of our skin color. We get flushed red due to the increased blood flow since alcohol thins the blood.

It's also why Asian babies are bright red when we're born.