Asian Flush - Page 4

Alcohol flush reaction (colloquially referred to as Asian Flush, Asian Glow, Oriental Flush, Russian Glow) is a condition in which the face and/or body experiences flushes or blotches, due to a missense polymorphism that encodes the enzyme, acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2) [1], normally responsible for breaking down acetaldehyde, a product of the metabolism of alcohol.[2]

On November 08 2009 20:08 TheAntZ wrote:
I'm half asian and half russian so it kinda balances out. No turning red for me!

On November 08 2009 01:45 Matoo- wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_flush


An Asian man experiences alcohol flush reaction.

roflllll

On November 08 2009 10:07 zulu_nation8 wrote:
im asian and ive never turned red from alcohol in my life, sucks for you guys

On November 07 2009 16:37 ProbeSaturation wrote:
I'm sure a lot of TL followers are asian,
so I'm surprised this topic hasn't been discussed.

Asian Flush.

When I had my first taste of alcohol back in highschool, it
was some beer, nothing too fancy. It was a Christmas party, everyone was downing the drinks. I had my go at it.

I finished maybe half a bottle before my heart started racing, I was sweating, my body was giving off a lot of heat, I was turning red. It was pretty bad.
At first I thought I was allergic to alcohol. My friends thought I was completely wasted, but really I was just getting drowsy. I was labeled the 'light weight'.

I did some research and found out you can't really be allergic to alcohol, but it turns out half of Asians can't handle their their drinks like other races can. Supposedly, some of us are deficient of an enzyme that is necessary to breakdown alcohol when it's consumed. So since we can't metabolize the alcohol, it remains in the bloodstream and acts as a 'poison', which leads to the various symptoms I listed above.

Now, I've come to accept this genetic mutation of mine, but it's so annoying to go to parties or go out and not really enjoy drinking. Friends tell me that it's cool that I turn red and that I shouldn't mind it. But it's just really really frustrating. People think I'm wasted when I'm perfectly sober. It's come to the point where I don't drink that often and its put a minor dent in my social life.

I've heard of various methods we can do to mitigate the redness. Taking some PepcidAC tablets a couple hours before drinking is supposed to help with the asian flush. I might try that out.

So I'm wondering. Is asian flush a problem for any of you guys? What do you think of it and how do you respond to it? Is it something that you just push aside and say "fuck it, I'm going to drink anyways" or have you stayed away from alcohol completely because of it?

Hopefully this leads to some discussion. TY

On November 10 2009 10:54 Ack1027 wrote:
Really?
4 pages and nobody is gonna flat out say not all asians have it? lol..

On November 07 2009 16:37 ProbeSaturation wrote:
but it turns out half of Asians can't handle their their drinks like other races can. Supposedly, some of us are deficient of an enzyme that is necessary to breakdown alcohol when it's consumed.