I popularize science, you listen | Do people who blush when drinking have better alcohol tolerance?

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Question: Do people who blush when drinking have a better alcohol tolerance?

Answer: First, we need to figure out why some people blush after drinking and others do not. Alcohol, or ethanol, is mainly metabolized in the liver. The first step is that ethanol is metabolized into acetaldehyde, the second step is that acetaldehyde is metabolized into acetic acid, and the third step is that acetic acid is metabolized into carbon dioxide and water. Acetaldehyde stimulates the secretion of adrenaline and norepinephrine, and these two hormones can cause symptoms such as facial flushing and rapid heartbeat. So the amount of alcohol is determined by enzymes, and enzymes are produced by genes, so the core of the problem lies in genes. The rate of Chinese people carrying the ALDH2*2 gene is very high. For people carrying ALDH2*2 heterozygotes, if they drink small amounts of alcohol for a long time, the incidence of esophageal cancer is 8 times that of normal people; and if they are long-term alcoholics, the incidence soars to 114 times. Here is a simple self-test method for whether you carry ALDH2*2:

First: Do you start to blush soon after drinking a glass of beer (about 180 mL)?

Second: Did you have any Problem 1 episodes in the first few years after you started drinking?

If your answer to any of these two is "YES", then you are very likely an ALDH2*2 carrier.

So it is easy to blush when drinking. It is fate. It is because of genes. The body cannot metabolize acetaldehyde quickly. Although people who blush when drinking can gradually make their brains tolerate the various reactions brought by drinking by practicing alcohol tolerance, such as drinking one glass before, and drinking three bottles before vomiting after ten years, your stomach, esophagus, liver and many other organs are being damaged by acetaldehyde and ethanol day after day, because your genes cannot be changed. Whether you can drink or not has been determined before you are born. People with good alcohol tolerance are those who have highly active alcohol dehydrogenase and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase in their bodies. Generally, such people will sweat a lot while drinking, and the alcohol will be quickly excreted from the body with sweat. But from a health perspective, no matter who you are, don't drink too much, otherwise there is a possibility of acute alcohol poisoning.