Asian Red Face May Indicate Risk of Cancer

According to the NY Times, if you get red face when you drink but are still able to consume large amounts of alcohol, it means that you’re at an increased risk of throat cancer. 

Turning red is a trait shared by 1/3 of people of East Asian ancestry, caused by a lack of the enzyme called ALDH2.  If you have two copies of the gene responsible for the missing enzyme, you get red and feel sick after very little alcohol.  If you have only one copy of the gene, you’ll get red, but you’ll still be able to drink.  It’s these people–the red faced drinkers–who are at an increased risk of throat cancer.  So if you’re a drinker who turns red, you may want to cut down.

I’ve always been able to drink, but since I’m never in front of a mirror when drinking, I don’t know whether or not I turn red.  I guess I’ll have to test myself with a 6 pack later tonight.

Related posts:

  1. What Asian America Could Use (Part I of III)
  2. Better Asian Man Emergency Podcast 10/08/08
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2 Responses to Asian Red Face May Indicate Risk of Cancer

  1. mama nabi says:

    Well? What did you find? Or did daddy-ing get between you and that 6 pack.

  2. jaehwan says:

    I drank it, and then I forgot to check the mirror. I don’t know if my forgetfulness was caused by the alcohol or my middle aged senility. :)

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