'Asian Glow' is no joking matter

Asians and Asian Americans often joke among themselves about the Asian Flush or Asian Glow, but it's a real thing and research by scientists in Japan and at Stanford University are finding out that it is nothing to laugh at.

After a few drinks, we've seen friends with roots from countries from East Asia and Souteast Asia exhibit  this redness in the face, after a glass of wine, a pint of beer or a couple shots of vodka, gin or tequila. In social situations, this can be embarrassing or you can take it as a warning to put down that cocktail.

Unfortunately, the tendency among a group out on the town is to just laugh it off and order another round. 

Stanford scientists published a paper on Jan. 25 in the journal Science Translation Medicine that found that those who tend to suffer from the flushing, might have a higher risk of heart disease. The findings suggest that those with that gene might want to reconsider their drinking habits.

Specifically, the variant causes blood vessel inflammation in response to alcohol consumption. This limits the flow of blood throughout the body, and could lead to coronary artery disease.

“When treated with alcohol, mice with this variant demonstrated enlarged vascular size, increased vascular thickness, and impaired vascular contraction and relaxation,” said Joseph Wu, director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and co-author of the study, told The Daily Beast in an email.

Researchers discovered even a modest amount of alcohol could trigger the flush, “one standard drink,” Wu said. This means that any amount of alcohol is potentially dangerous to those with the variant—especially if you already have exacerbating factors such as a family history with heart disease, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol, health hazards common among Asian American immigrants and their offspring.

An earlier study in Japan found that this particular gene that causes the facial flush  in East Asians can lead to gastric cancer.

A US analysis of the Japan research showed that facial flushing response to alcohol was associated with higher cancer risk in men in East Asia, especially in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, yet facial flushing was not significantly associated with cancer risk among women.

Populations in East Asia have long been disproportionately affected by stomach cancer compared to those of Western countries. Half of all gastric cancer cases worldwide occur in China, and it is the most common type of cancer among men in Japan. Yet in the US, gastric cancer accounts for only about 1.5% of all new cancers diagnosed per year.

If that's not enough to stop drinking alcohol, according to a 2018 study in Nature, mice with the gene responsible for the Asian flush in humans showed four times more DNA damage after a single dose of alcohol than mice without the gene.

The Stanford research released in January 2023 focused on how the gene can be harmful to Southeast Asians by leading to coronary artery disease.

If you enjoy alcohol, to loosen up a little, relax or reflect, abstention could be difficult, especially when we are deluged with media associating alcohol with good times.

“We realize it is very difficult for people to abstain from alcohol completely for a variety of reasons,” Wu said. “Hence we encourage people with this variant to be cognizant of the strong scientific findings that point to the harmful effects of alcohol and to cut down on alcohol consumption as much as possible.”

Wu said his overall message is simple: “If you’re drinking, drink less. If you’re not drinking, don’t start.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.