Alcohol Flush Reaction – Why is it a problem?

Have you ever noticed how people get very flushed or red in the face when drinking too much alcohol?  Have you ever noticed your own face turning red after a couple of drinks?  This is called alcohol flush reaction, and it is not as harmless as you might think.

It has nothing to do with being too hot or too excited or even embarrassment; it is actually something far worse.

Many people tend to believe that drinking alcohol is good for us, and somehow beneficial to health.  But as we have discussed, there is no health benefit from drinking alcohol, and now we have the evidence right before our eyes.  Believe it or not, there are harmful consequences from drinking too much alcohol, and for some people it can actually be worse than normal.

There is no health benefit from drinking alcohol

The alcohol content of any alcohol beverage is bad for our health, no matter what the percentage or concentration.  The problem is that alcohol is a toxic and poisonous chemical, and it is harmful to living creatures.  That includes you and me!

When we drink alcohol, the liver is the organ within our body with the difficult task of dealing with the poison.  The pleasurable feeling that we associate with drinking alcohol is caused by a flood of dopamine that is released within the brain.  But this is merely a subterfuge because the rest of the body is under attack.

The body cannot cope with excess alcohol

To overcome the toxic effects of alcohol, the liver breaks down the alcohol in a two step process, to try to get rid of the poison as quickly as possible.  To do this, it must convert the alcohol into acetate and acetic acid, or vinegar.  This is a natural process that also occurs in nature, and we are all familiar with vinegar, which is a harmless by product when food turns sour.

However, it is not so simple for the body to turn alcohol to vinegar.  Firstly, the liver converts the alcohol into acetadehayde, and then pumps it back into the blood stream, where it is free to circulate around the body.  However, the problem is that acetaldehyde is even worse than alcohol and it is now known to be a grade 1 carcinogenic substance.  That is not good.

Acetaldehyde is carcinogenic

So the problem is a simultaneous attack by alcohol which is toxic, and acetaldehyde which is carcinogenic.  The higher the dose of alcohol and acetaldehyde in the body, the longer it takes for the liver to get rid of the problem.

Acetaldehyde is the cause of several side effects such as skin discoloration, nausea, heart irregularities, headache, and alcohol flush reaction.  If any of these side effects sound familiar, that is because we all suffer from an excess of acetaldehyde whenever we drink alcohol, and especially when we drink too much.  This means that suffering from a hangover should not be treated as a joke, it really is a warning that the body is under attack.

It is very easy to detect if you have a build up of acetaldehyde in the body, all you have to do is check in the mirror.

The problem with drinking too much

The problem with drinking alcohol is that the brain enjoys the association with the feel good chemical dopamine, and wants to drink more alcohol.  But the liver can only deal with so much alcohol before it becomes unable to cope.  This is where things really turn nasty.  Because the brain is fooled into thinking that alcohol is pleasurable, it does not realise that the rest of the body is under attack.  Until it is too late.

How much is too much alcohol?

The answer is – it depends!  According to the health regulations in most countries, it is okay for men to have no more than 10 standard drinks per week, and half of that for women.  But this does completely eradicate the problem of acetaldehyde in the body, which is a carcinogen, remember.  So these guidelines are only meant to reduce the risk.  On the other hand, if you regularly exceed the guidelines for safe drinking, there is a much greater risk of exposure to the harmful consequences of developing lifestyle problems in the future.

Do you need more proof?

For some people, the process of breaking down the alcohol in their body is much slower than for others.  Therefore they are at greater risk of exposure to acetaldehyde, because it is present in the blood for longer.  There is a high proportion of people in China and eastern Asia who are more susceptible to alcohol flush reaction to normal.  For people who suffer alcohol flush reaction, their tolerance to alcohol is extremely low, but in actual fact, it is the acetaldehyde that causes the problem.

Drinking alcohol is bad for our health

So the proof is there that drinking too much alcohol, which is toxic, causes a build up of acetaldehyde, which is carcinogenic.  The double whammy of these two poisonous chemicals is very harmful in the body.  The combination of these toxic chemicals has been shown to cause health problems for people and can result in bad consequences for our health.

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