People who drink alcohol have red faces, are at risk of cardiovascular disease?

Người châu Á dễ đỏ mặt khi uống rượu bia - Ảnh: JapanTimes — Asians easily blush when drinking alcohol - Photo: JapanTimes

Doctor Truong Trong Hoang - Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine - said that the condition of many people often blushing when drinking alcohol is common in East Asia, including Vietnam. The reason for this condition is that the body lacks an enzyme.

Specifically, when alcohol or beer enters the body, it is processed in the liver through two stages. First, it is converted into acetaldehyde - a substance harmful to the body.

At this point the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase breaks down acetaldehyde into acetic acid, a harmless substance.

If the body does not lack the above enzyme, drinking moderate amounts of alcohol will not cause blushing. On the contrary, if due to genetic or other reasons leading to deficiency, acetaldehyde accumulates in the body leading to blushing.

This can happen regardless of how much alcohol a person drinks.

According to many studies, red face after drinking alcohol is related to increased risk of high blood pressure, which is the source of high risk of heart disease and stroke later in life.

“Anyone with this phenomenon is a warning factor to have regular health check-ups to detect high blood pressure.

In addition, some other studies have shown that drinking red wine can be related to cancer, especially gastrointestinal cancer and esophageal cancer in men. Therefore, it is best to limit alcohol consumption as much as possible," Dr. Hoang emphasized.

Dr. Hoang added that some medications, when taken orally, reduce facial redness, but that does not mean the body is not harmed.

Because in reality these drugs only affect the blood vessels in the facial area, while acetaldehyde still exists in the body, so do not rely on drugs to drink alcohol comfortably.

On the other hand, if a person does not blush but subjectively drinks more alcohol, then acetaldehyde will accumulate more, the risk of high blood pressure and cancer will increase significantly.

"Alcohol and beer are harmful to health if they exceed the allowed dosage. The less you drink, the better it is for your health," Dr. Hoang shared.

How to drink alcohol and beer properly?

Dr. Vo Hong Minh Cong - Deputy Director of Gia Dinh People's Hospital (HCMC) - said that if consumed in the right dose, alcohol is good for health, especially the digestive and cardiovascular systems.

Specifically, the standard dose for health is only 1 can of beer 330ml/day, wine 150ml/day, strong alcohol 50ml/day.

However, "drinkers", even people who go out to eat and drink normally, rarely or never drink according to the standard dose.

They drink a lot, many times more than the standard dose. This affects all the organs, the internal organs of the stomach, intestines, liver and nerves.

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