Lifestyle

10 Facts About Your Face Turning Red ‘Fastly’ After Drinking Just a Can of Beer

2019-04-24 , 8:00 am

Last Updated on 2021-04-23 , 11:09 am

If you’re like XiaoBeach73 who comes to work every day wasted, you’d be familiar with this: for some people, their face would turn extremely red after just a can of beer, as if they’ve been running a 2.4 km run.

And to some of us, we’d think that it’s a good “sign”: the alcohol in the body is being removed from the liver to the body, and therefore more “qi” is dissipated from the body. Your parents might just think that you’ve got excellent blood circulation.

Here’s the fact: nothing could be further from the truth.

In fact, it doesn’t happen to everyone; though as Asians, we tend to experience this often.

So, why does XiaoBeach73’s face turns into Hellboy after she’s drunk a glass of cocktail, while BuffLord95 merely collapses after hundred shots of Vodka without a hint of redness on his face?

Does it have something to do with the type of drinks, or does it affect certain people only?

Read on and you might just go, “Shit, I just learned that today.”

If you prefer to watch a video about this topic instead, here you go:

How Many People Know Why Their Face Turn Red?

First thing first: How many people have the misconception that a red face means a healthy body?

A lot, unfortunately.

In a survey with 200 NTU students, over 65% them didn’t know the scientific reason for a red face. I bet they’d just be like XiaoBeach73, who ironically is a NTU graduate: they’d have thought that red face = goody blood circulation = can drink more.

There’s even a misconception that if your face doesn’t turn red, it means your body is suppressing the alcohol which could make you even more drunk.

I don’t know about you, but that’s a misconception that really should be addressed to more people.

How Many Singaporeans’ Face Turn Red After Drinking?

Once again, we must look at the same survey, and not a global survey, which you’ll understand shortly.

In the survey, 60% of the respondents’ faces turned red after drinking. Depending on what kind of friends you have, it’s either a lot or a few.

So, why do some of the faces turn red? What’s the difference between XiaoBeach73 and BuffLord95?

Reason: Enzyme Deficiency

We won’t want to turn this into a science lesson, so here’s a simple explanation: it’s due to your genes.

You see, for some of us (or to be specific, 60% of us), we do not have enough enzymes to neturalise something known as acetaldehyde, something that’s created by alcohol. So when that happens, our blood vessels dilate, making our face (and every part of our body) reddish.

Now, that sounds scary; are we mutants because of our genes?

No Immediate Danger; No Worries

Don’t worry; everyone has got different genes. For example, the reason why our boss looks like shit while BuffLord95 looks lit is due to genes; this is obviously not life-threatening.

So the 60% of us whose genes are different is just…too bad.

But wait, there might not be immediate danger, but studies have shown there are other risks associated with this “condition”.

Before that, let’s address the elephant in the room: what’s called?

Name of The “Condition”

Technically speaking, it’s called “Alcohol Flush Reaction”, but many of us called it the Asian Flush.

And it’s for a good reason.

Most people who’re affected by Asian Flush are…Asians.

Overall, it is more common in people of East Asian descent (more specifically Chinese, Japanese and Korean), and I guess we all know what descent we Singaporeans or Malaysians are from.

So yeah, if you go to an ang mo country, ang mos might be shocked when your face turns red. Show them this article when they go apeshit, please.

Not Just Red Face

The Asian Flush isn’t just about a red face, my friend. The red face might be obvious to others, but the reactions aren’t limited to the face.

A person with Asian Flush might also develop flushes or blotches on the face, neck, shoulders, and in some cases, the entire body. Other than that, they’ll experience nausea, headaches and a fast heart rate, though you’ve got to admit that anyone who’s wasted would also experience those.

So this means…

People With Asian Flush Are Less Prone to Alcoholism

Because of the responses associated with alcohol, people with Asian Flush might be less prone to alcoholism. In fact, to combat alcoholism, alcoholics are sometimes given a treatment that creates the condition of Asian Flush so that they’ll stop drinking.

In other words, as people of Asian Flush, we’re undergoing treatment for alcoholism every day!

Long-term Health Effects of Being an Asian Flusher

Unfortunately, it’s not that good to be an Asian Flusher.

If you’re one, and you drink often, you’d have higher risk of gastrointestinal cancers and oesophageal cancer.

Also, if an Asian flusher drinks frequently, he’ll have double the risk of hypertension.

Lest you don’t know what hypertension is, it’s high blood pressure.

So yeah, drink in moderation…and exercise more.

Any Way to Treat It?

Our boss is ugly; is there a way to treat it?

The short answer is no. Since it’s part of your genes, there’s nothing much you can do except accepting the fact that you’ll glow after drinking.

How to Know if You’re an Asian Flusher?

For some people, when they’re extremely wasted to the extent of forgetting their own name, they’d turn into Hellboy even if they’re ang mo. So how do you know if you’ve Asian Flush?

According to RED AF, a health communications campaign that aimed to foster a healthier and safer drinking culture in Singapore by raising awareness of high-risk drinking among people with Asian Flush, you can know if you’ve Asian Flush based on two ways:

Do you glow during your first one or two years of drinking?
Do you glow after drinking just a glass of beer?

If you answer yes to both, then good luck: you most likely aren’t going to be consumed by alcoholism because you’re officially an Asian Flusher.

So the next time you see your friends’ face glowing into Deadpool, please don’t think that “qi” is coming out from them.

And you’re most welcome.

Featured Image: polkadot_photo / Shutterstock.com