People whose faces turn red when they drink alcohol may be facing more than embarrassment. The flushing may indicate an increased risk for a deadly throat cancer, researchers report.I'm one of those who turns red when drinking. So, I guess it's important for me to cut back to under 16 drinks a week.
The flushing response, which may be accompanied by nausea and a rapid heartbeat, is caused mainly by an inherited deficiency in an enzyme called ALDH2, a trait shared by more than a third of people of East Asian ancestry — Japanese, Chinese or Koreans. As little as half a bottle of beer can trigger the reaction.
The deficiency results in problems in metabolizing alcohol, leading to an accumulation in the body of a toxin called acetaldehyde. People with two copies of the gene responsible have such unpleasant reactions that they are unable to consume large amounts of alcohol. This aversion actually protects them against the increased risk for cancer.
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Reducing drinking can significantly reduce the incidence of this cancer among Asian adults. The researchers calculate that if moderate- or heavy-drinking ALDH2-deficient Japanese men reduced their consumption to under 16 drinks a week, 53 percent of esophageal squamous cell cancers in that group could be prevented.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
NYTimes.com: Drinkers’ Red Face May Signal Cancer Risk
NYTimes.com: Drinkers’ Red Face May Signal Cancer Risk
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4 comments:
Holy cow, if you're drinking more than 16 drinks a week, something bad's bound to happen. And if you do limit it to below 16 drinks a week, then there's 53% reduction of something that may correlate to throat cancer. You gotta love articles that report extraneous stuff like this.
Go Asian Flush!
Yeah, if you're drinking more than 16 drinks a week, you've got bigger worries than throat cancer.
Yeah I was kind of worried there until the end.
That reminds me of drug warnings (I think Tylenol is one of them) that say if you average more than 3 drinks a day you should consult your doctor before using the product. I think the first half of the warning is sufficient enough: if you average more than 3 drinks a day you should consult your doctor.
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