Do you get flushed after you drink a glass of wine or pint of beer?
It might be more than something to be embarrassed about. It may be something to be worried about, as The New York Times reports.
According to researchers, there's a link between people who get red from imbibing alcohol and those who get esophageal cancer.
The culprit behind most cases of drinking redness is a gene that prevents a person from fully metabolizing alcohol. If people inherit two sets of the gene, they may get a lot more than a red face from drinking even small amounts of wine (anyone have that Asian friend who gets nauseous and massive headaches, and has to stop drinking after a sip or two?). Someone with only copy of the gene may start out a red-faced drinker but develop a tolerance that eliminates the flush.
The problem is that if people with the ALDH2 deficiency do drink, they accumulate a toxin called acetaldehyde in their bodies, and that build-up can lead to the same kind of esophageal cancer that serious smokers can get. People with one ALDH2 gene who drink may be putting themselves at risk for the cancer, and if they've developed a tolerance to booze (or use antihistamines to mask the flush), they might have disabled the warning light that tells them to stop.
Luckily, docs can administer a test. And an ethanol-soaked pad applied to the skin for 15 to 20 minutes will leave the ALDH2-deficient with noticeably red skin.