The battle between the red-faced and white-faced people at the wine table

In our impression, men with red faces are mostly upright and generous, so we think that people with red faces when drinking at the wine table can also drink heavily. Is this really true? Let's first understand how alcohol is metabolized after entering the body.

As mentioned in the previous article, 90% of the alcohol that enters our body is metabolized through the liver. So how is this alcohol metabolized? This requires the participation of two enzymes in the liver, one is alcohol dehydrogenase and the other is acetaldehyde dehydrogenase. First, alcohol dehydrogenase comes into play. Through its catalytic action, it metabolizes ethanol, the main component of wine, into acetaldehyde. Then acetaldehyde dehydrogenase comes into play. It converts acetaldehyde into acetic acid. Acetic acid then goes through various metabolic pathways and finally produces carbon dioxide and water that are excreted from the body. This is the normal alcohol metabolism process.

If there is normal, there must be abnormal situations. In some people, the activity of alcohol dehydrogenase in the liver is very high, which can quickly metabolize ethanol into acetaldehyde. However, the activity of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase is very low, and acetaldehyde cannot be converted into acetic acid. Therefore, the acetaldehyde content in the body increases, causing capillary dilation, resulting in blushing. The culprit that makes some people blush after drinking alcohol is acetaldehyde, which is ten to thirty times more toxic than ethanol and may also induce gastrointestinal tumors. This condition is very common among Asians, approximately 53% of Vietnamese, 44% of Japanese, 30% of Chinese and 27% of Koreans. Due to congenital gene mutations, the activity of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase is very low, so some people call this condition "Asian red".

From this it can be seen that blushing after drinking is not a sign of excessive drinking as we imagined, but a warning that you should not drink!

What about the face that becomes whiter the more you drink? This kind of person is more dangerous! The activities of alcohol dehydrogenase and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase in their livers are very low. If ethanol cannot be converted in time, the alcohol concentration in the blood will become higher and higher. When it reaches a certain level, you will be drunk. The damage caused by alcohol to the liver cannot be underestimated. However, such people do not show any abnormal behavior until they are "very drunk", so it is very difficult to be detected. In a sense, people whose faces turn pale after drinking are more harmed by alcohol than those whose faces turn red after drinking.

In short, no matter whether their face turns red or pale when drinking, they are all losers at the drinking table. If you encounter this situation again, don't use alcohol to connect with them. Not persuading them to drink is the best way to deepen friendship.

Finally, if you drink alcohol, you should limit it.