Doctor reveals truth behind why your face turns red after drinking alcohol
A side effect some people experience is known as ‘alcohol flush reaction’
A doctor has lifted the lid on the real reason behind why your face blushes red after consuming alcohol.
This comes as information from the National Institute of Health has revealed that ‘people like to drink alcohol because of its ability to alter emotional states’.
Experts say that consuming alcohol can induce ‘euphoria, relaxation, and disinhibition while reducing stress and anxiety’.
However, there are also warnings from bodies such as the NHS not to go over 14 units per week.
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This equals to around seven pints of 4% lager or one and half bottles of 12% wine.
But for some people, there is a common side effect they experience known as ‘alcohol flush reaction’, which means your face turns red when you drink booze.
In a video for Bupa UK, Dr Karan Raja shared that ‘around 8% of the world has this software glitch with the vast majority being of East Asian descent’.
The expert went on to explain: “Do you ever get red in the face when drinking alcohol? This is a genetic software glitch called the alcohol flush reaction, and it's a warning sign for your health.”
Dr Raja said it’s when ‘your DNA starter pack forgot to include enough of the enzyme that helps the body break down alcohol - aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2)’.
He continued: “When you drink alcohol, the body converts it into acetaldehyde, which is actually more toxic than the alcohol itself.
“This toxic acetaldehyde is then converted to the safer acetate by the enzyme.
"If you have the mutation and you drink, you get a buildup of the toxic acetaldehyde in your blood.
“This is the substance that increases your risk of cancer as well as giving you a facial flush and an increased heart rate.”
He warned that even if someone with the mutation has just four units a week, it could increase their risk ‘of esophageal cancer forty to eighty times higher than someone without the mutation’.
Symptoms of ‘alcohol flush reaction’
Alcohol intolerance ‘is an inherited metabolic disorder’.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, ‘metabolic disorders affect your metabolism, the way your body converts and uses energy’.
Symptoms of this include:
• Face, neck and chest become warm and pink or red right after you drink alcohol
• Nausea and vomiting
• Rapid heartbeat (tachycardia) or heart palpitations
• Hypotension (low blood pressure)
• Throbbing headache, fatigue and other hangover-like symptoms
• Stuffy nose
• Diarrhea
• Worsening asthma