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Learnt something new about the Chinese...

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Wd40
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Learnt something new about the Chinese...

Post by Wd40 » Wed, 04 Mar 2015 9:00 am

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

Did know about this.

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Re: Learnt something new about the Chinese...

Post by Sporkin » Wed, 04 Mar 2015 9:42 am

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

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Re: Learnt something new about the Chinese...

Post by bgd » Wed, 04 Mar 2015 10:34 am

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.

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Re: Learnt something new about the Chinese...

Post by nakatago » Wed, 04 Mar 2015 11:08 am

It's a form of allergic reaction.
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Re: Learnt something new about the Chinese...

Post by Steve1960 » Wed, 04 Mar 2015 12:10 pm

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 :wink:

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Re: Learnt something new about the Chinese...

Post by sundaymorningstaple » Wed, 04 Mar 2015 12:11 pm

I was debating the same thing with myself! :lol:
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Re: Learnt something new about the Chinese...

Post by JR8 » Wed, 04 Mar 2015 1:40 pm

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
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Re: Learnt something new about the Chinese...

Post by nakatago » Wed, 04 Mar 2015 1:53 pm

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.
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Re: Learnt something new about the Chinese...

Post by CaptainBullus » Wed, 04 Mar 2015 8:51 pm

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...

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Re: Learnt something new about the Chinese...

Post by ecureilx » Wed, 04 Mar 2015 10:06 pm

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 ? :D

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Re: Learnt something new about the Chinese...

Post by earthfriendly » Thu, 05 Mar 2015 1:52 am

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

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Re: Learnt something new about the Chinese...

Post by ecureilx » Thu, 05 Mar 2015 2:18 am

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

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

and sometimes after half a bottle of whiskey :P

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Re: Learnt something new about the Chinese...

Post by the lynx » Thu, 05 Mar 2015 11:08 am

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?

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Re: Learnt something new about the Chinese...

Post by JR8 » Thu, 05 Mar 2015 11:33 am

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? ... :-k [edit/add: apparently so, but since they're not caused by the same source of gene/chromosome it looks like coincidence...]
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