15 / 16
Issue 2 | February 2017
15
Approximately 80% of the Asian population suffer
from ‘The Asian flush/glow’. The Asian flush does
not only occur in Asians but is most prominent in
Asians or more specifically Eastern Asians. It is also
known as Alcohol Flush syndrome and occurs in
people of other ethnicities who cannot metabolise
alcohol efficiently. The syndrome is caused by an
enzyme deficiency due to a genetic mutation that has
been passed down from generation to generation.
The symptoms include facial blushing, nausea, fever
or increased body temperature, headache, increased
heart rate and general feeling of physical discomfort.
This is caused by the body not being able to process
alcohol efficiently and therefore there is a build-up
of acetaldehyde, a carcinogen.
How is Alcohol metabolised?
First we must understand how alcohol is metabo-
lised. Alcohol is broken down in two steps. Alcohol
is broken down by the enzyme alcohol dehydrogen-
ase. The alcohol is broken down to acetaldehyde.
After this the acetaldehyde is broken down further to
acetate by aldehyde dehydrogenase, and eventually
the acetate is broken down into carbon dioxide and
water.
What causes Asian Flush/Glow?
The cause of the Asian flush is due to a genetic
change that affects alcohol metabolism. What occurs
in Asians is that they normally have a lot of alcohol
dehydrogenase and therefore the alcohol is broken
down very quickly to acetaldehyde. However, the
genetic change also reduces how much aldehyde de-
hydrogenase enzyme the person has and therefore
there is a rapid build-up of acetaldehyde but not
enough enzymes to break-down the carcinogen into
harmless products. This build-up of acetaldehyde
causes dilation of the blood vessels in the face but
does also occur over the rest of the body as well. The
increased heart rate is a result of the body trying to
metabolise the enzyme quickly as acetaldehyde is a
carcinogen.
Dangers of drinking alcohol with the Asian Flush
As said earlier the Asian flush is due to a build-up of
acetaldehyde, which is an animal carcinogen. There-
fore Asians who drink a lot of alcohol are putting
themselves at more of a risk of oesophageal and/or
stomach cancer as well increased risk of peptic ul-
cers and gastrointestinal disease.
Benefits of the flush and remedies
The only real benefit of having the Asian flush is
that often they are put off drinking a lot of alcohol or
alcohol entirely as some think it is too much to put
up with and often due the flush they don’t get the
buzz that comes along with alcohol. People have dis-
covered certain remedies that have worked. These
include anti-heartburn tablets such as Peptic AC and
antihistamines such as Zantac. People have also
claimed pills called ‘Before Elixir’ have worked as
well. ‘Before Elixir’ consists of vitamins, amino ac-
ids and plant extracts.
The Asian Flush/Glow
Benjamin Wan - L6th