Dear Hillary,
I’ve noticed a lot of Thai girls go red in the face when drinking beer. Is it just that their (sic) [they’re] not used to alcohol the way we are or something else?
Gerald
Dear Gerald,
I had to do some research for you on this one, and this is what Mr. Google gave me: “Because of the association with Asian ancestry, alcohol flush reaction has also been referred to by such informal names as Asian flush syndrome, Asian flush, and Asian glow. Approximately 36 percent of East Asians (Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans) show a characteristic physiological response to drinking alcohol that includes facial flushing.” In addition, Wiki said the flushing is from “accumulation of acetaldehyde, a metabolic byproduct of the catabolic metabolism of alcohol, and is caused by an acetaldehyde dehydrogenase deficiency.” So there you are. It is all to do with your dehydrogenase. That was certainly something new for this column. Thank you for that my Petal.
