Singapore Expats

...that if they drink alcohol too fast their face turns red.

Did know about this.

Yep, has to do with the first two stages of alcohol metabolism. Coined Asian flush syndrome or something

Not limited to the Chinese, I've known a few Japanese who suffer from it. I also know quite a few Chinese who can hold their own with big drinking westerners so it isn't a universal problem. Hmm, thinking it about it now, most of those are women. Perhaps females are less afflicted?

And it's not just going red, they can become physically ill. Was present when a young Japanese guy was taken to hospital - he was only on his second pint. Poor guy was sent home (from London) for letting the side down I imagine.

It's a form of allergic reaction.

nakatago wrote:It's a form of allergic reaction.

Excellent when I fall over after 6 pints of Stella Artois I will tell my wife I have an allergy

I was debating the same thing with myself!

nakatago wrote:It's a form of allergic reaction.

Asian Flush Syndrome. I wonder if it is genetically correlated together with Lactose intolerance [a not serious, but rather whimsical thought].

Google for pix of the above. Which amongst others brings the one featured here...
http://dujs.dartmouth.edu/fall-2009/eso ... r-and-the-‘asian-glow’

When I lived in Japan, it was expected that all my local colleagues would turn beetroot red if (when?) they consumed alcohol...

p.s. The above link pastes as visibly broken. Maybe cut/paster it to a new browser window...
Meanwhile... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_flush_reaction

JR8 wrote:

nakatago wrote:It's a form of allergic reaction.

Asian Flush Syndrome. I wonder if it is genetically correlated together with Lactose intolerance [a not serious, but rather whimsical thought].

Not necessarily correlated; my guess is it's just another mutation. Native Americans are supposed to be lactose intolerant too.

A friend of mine said it was to do with our (western European) ancestors evolving whilst consuming wheat/barley whilst East asians were consuming rice...

CaptainBullus wrote:A friend of mine said it was to do with our (western European) ancestors evolving whilst consuming wheat/barley whilst East asians were consuming rice...

how about "south Asians" then ?

Not just the flush, and the face gets warm or even hot. And then need to cool it down with ice pack .

earthfriendly wrote:Not just the flush, and the face gets warm or even hot. And then need to cool it down with ice pack .

I recall a former colleague, if we go drinking, on the drive back, she will have the aircon on full and her face practically stuck at the vent, to 'normalise' her face colour

and she does get coloured sometimes with just 2 glasses of wine ..

and sometimes after half a bottle of whiskey

Yes, common among East Asian ancestry because they naturally do not produce a lot of the enzymes responsible to break down aldehyde, hence the flush on skin. Having said that, one would wonder how did they survive guzzling on baijiu and sake?

the lynx wrote:Yes, common among East Asian ancestry because they naturally do not produce a lot of the enzymes responsible to break down aldehyde, hence the flush on skin. Having said that, one would wonder how did they survive guzzling on baijiu and sake?

Deficiencies of alcohol dehydrogonase (for alcohol) vs lactase (for milk)?

I don't recall people of Anglo-Saxon origin having something akin to an allergic reaction to alcohol. Neither do I with regards lactose, unless the latter has come about as a result, often in later life, of an illness.

Hence my pondering earlier whether there is some basis for the apparent correlation... the trait would appear to indicate commonality amongst people of 'Pac-Rim' origin, from Eskimos to Aborigines.

p.s. I wonder if the latter two groups also share lactose intolerance? ... [edit/add: apparently so, but since they're not caused by the same source of gene/chromosome it looks like coincidence...]