Does this sound Familiar?

You're out with friend's or some colleagues from work and everyone is sipping on their alcoholic beverages, socializing, laughing, having a genuinely good time, but you're feeling somewhat left out. You know that if you have any alcohol you will turn red in the face but you think to yourself that you will get a drink so that people will stop asking you questions about why you're not drinking. The night progresses and you can't help but to notice that people are more relaxed than you and more comfortable meeting new people. They're having such a good time because their inhibitions are set free by all the alcohol that is being consumed.

You're tired of making up excuses about why you're not drinking so you decide to get a drink just to hold in your hand so that you don't look like the odd one out. Time passes and you think to yourself that one sip won't do anything. You take a sip of our drink. More time passes and your face doesn't turn red! Maybe you've overcome your allergy? Maybe you've grown out of it? Maybe it was something you ate earlier in the night?

Confident, you have another sip. You start to feel more relaxed, more talkative, more comfortable. A few sips later and suddenly you feel the skin on your face getting a bit tighter and hotter. You can't help but notice that people are now looking at you and treating you differently than they were before. You then make your way to the bathroom and look in the mirror to find that your eyes are bloodshot and your face has gone bright red!

You try to cool down by splashing cold water on your face but it doesn't alleviate the redness. People walk in and out of the bathroom and you feel their eyes on you while they think "what's wrong with that person?" You then gather yourself as you prepare to walk out of the bathroom to face the rest of the evening embarrassed and feeling uncomfortable. This is what used to happen to me, and I'm sure that if you also experience Asian flush you too would have had similar unpleasant experiences.

People who experience Asian Flush are too familiar with the above scenario, and it is important for these people and everyone else to become more informed about why this is happening and how it can be prevented.

Why Does this Happen?

Here are some useful facts that will bring you up to speed about how alcohol is absorbed by the body and the effect that it has on your state of mind.

When you consume and alcoholic beverage, the alcohol (otherwise known as Ethanol) is absorbed into your blood stream via the esophagus, stomach and small intestine. The time taken for the alcohol to absorb into your blood stream can vary anywhere from 15 minutes to a few hours. Some factors that might affect the rate at which alcohol can be absorbed by the body include your sex, body mass, the type and strength of the alcohol consumed, and the amount of food you have lining your stomach.

The alcohol is absorbed into you blood stream and makes its way to your brain. The moment the alcohol reaches the brain you will feel a slight change in your mental state. You become slightly light headed, cheerful, and more sociable. This is because alcohol targets the area of the brain that controls your inhibitions. This is why people are more talkative and appear to have more fun after having getting a few drinks into their system.

Researchers have shown that as many as 50 percent of people of Asian descent experience a red flushed complexion after drinking alcohol. "Asian Flush", more technically referred to by scientists as "Alcohol Flush Reaction", describes our body's inability to completely break-down alcohol that has been ingested by our bodies.

The reason why our body has trouble breaking down the alcohol is because we have inactive enzyme called

aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2), which is normally responsible for breaking down acetaldehyde, a byproduct of the metabolism of alcohol. Acetaldehyde is a toxin and, as result of your body not being able to properly break it down, this toxin accumulates and causes the red flushing that we all commonly refer to as Asian Flush.

Whilst the red flushing is the most common and reported symptom among sufferers, other symptoms you might experience include dizziness, nausea, headaches, and an increased pulse.

Scientists have very little knowledge as to why the enzyme is inactive primarily in people of Asian descent, but empirical studies have shown that the enzyme deficiency that causes Asian Flush is genetic and can potentially be passed down by both parents. Tolerance levels and the severity of flushing and other symptoms vary from individual to individual. Some studies have also shown that while the majority of suffers appear to be of Asian decent, there is some evidence that aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 is inactive in higher than average levels in people of Jewish descent as well.

According to the weight of medical opinion, there isn't much we can do to fix our enzyme deficiency. We were born with it any we're most likely going to die with it - this my friends is something we're going to have to live with. However, there are several remedies available on the internet that have been proven to be successful in treating Asian Flush.

Hopefully, by increasing people's awareness of this disorder we can also broaden social tolerance and alleviate any stigma that may be attached to Asian Flush.