I get drunk easily, is that because I am Asian? (more inside)

It’s the people who have a specific mutation that allows the liver to efficiently process alcohol that can handle their liquor. Note I said that the people who don’t get drunk off one beer that are the mutants, not people like you or me (I am a serious lightweight despite my frame/body size). It’s actually “normal” to not be able to handle alcohol very well. I don’t know if Asians are less likely to have this mutation or not, but that’s something that probably could be looked up.

On an unrelated note, what the devil is Sake!?!?

EDIT: Tell me, for Christ’s Sake!

i would be very surprised if ethnicity turns out to have anything to do with it. a trait related to ethnicity maybe, but the ethnicity its self i highly doubt it.

i dont drink anymore, but when i do it affects me really badly. i know its not my ethnicity or anything like that because when i was a teen i used to drink like a fish. the reason i cant drink much now days is probably 1 of 2 reasons. 1 cause i had to have 2 stomach pumps on 2 different occasions cause i drunk too much and it affected me badly and now my body cant handle it. or, because i dont drink that often anymore and no longer have a tolerance.

This might help explain what @MissAnthrope is saying.

I have other friends with Asian origin and they are like me, getting drunk easily.

It’s all a matter of developing a tolerance to alcohol. I remember getting hammered on 2 beers….now I could drink 2 beers an hour and still thread a needle…with my glasses on of course! ;)

@Arp – There’s this thing on the internet, called Google?

Sake: Rice wine; a drink made from filtered fermented rice

in my experience Asians can’t hold their drink, they certainly behave in a bizzare manner when under the influence.

i have asian freinds that handle thier alcohol well. i thinks more of a coincidence that you see other asian people with the same problem, bu i could be wrong.

I have heard this, I think it is trouble with some enzyme or something and it is seen more in Asians. I’ll see if I can find something on google. It is very likely true, many diseases and genetic mutations are found more often in certain ethnicities. Ashkanazi Jews get Taysachs more often, blacks get sickle cell, and Mediteranean descent sees more thallassemia.

Based on @HTDC‘s link, it looks like there’s a 50–50 chance, being Asian, of inheriting the mutation.

And, you might find this interesting too http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_flush_reaction

Alcohol sensitivity is related to deficiency in one of four enzymes, all of which are aldehyde dehydrogenase isozymes involved in the breakdown of alcohol, but which vary in their migration speed. It is the “type I” ALDH enzyme that is often deficient in Asian populations (among others).

BUT, interestingly enough, Thais (at least from northern Thailand) are much less prone to this deficiency than many other Asian populations.

Here’s the breakdown:

Ethnicity/percentage showing deficiency
Vietnamese/57%
Japanese/44%
Indonesians/39%
Chinese/35%
Thais (northern)/8%
(source)

This deficiency is virtually never present in people of European ethnicity.

I guess I’m part Asian.

Seriously, though, I don’t get how someone with mostly Scottish ancestry can have this condition.. I get the face flush, can be drunk off 2–3 beers, just can’t handle alcohol. The Scots are some of the biggest drinkers on the planet, so wtf?

from personal experience, it took me a while to build up a tolerance- back in college, it didn’t take much to get me drunk, but more than 10 years later, i can definitely more than hold my own when i’m out drinking with friends- i’m 32 yo, filipino, 5’4, 150 lbs and a typical night of drinking for me is about 7 beers or 7 vodka drinks- that’s about the time i start getting drunk- i don’t know how much genetics play into it, but for me, it took lots of practice ;)

Consider yourself fortunate. Those of us that have high alcohol tolerance are far more likely to develop alcoholism, liver problems, brain damage, etc. You save money, too. I can drink 12 beers in 3 hours and not even feel it, nothing to be proud of.

I like the cheap date aspect.. I know I save money by being a lightweight. What sucks is that I’ll be feeling great and then all of a sudden, I’m not and have to be sick. Very, very fine line there that sometimes seems to arrive with little warning.

@MissAnthrope Haha that is what my husband and I say, we are cheap dates. I don’t have a low tolerance, but we just don’t bother to drink much. Maybe you are one of the first people in your ethnicity to have the mutation, you could be starting some new gene line if you have children.

No, that’s why you have a small penis.

As Harp mentioned, it has to do with the enzymes Alcohol Dehydrogenase 1 and Alcohol Dehydrogenase 2. ADH1 converts alcohol to aldehyde, and ADH2 (now called ADH1B) converts the aldehyde (what makes you drunk), and ADH2 breaks the aldehyde down. The amount of enzymes that you produce are genetically determined, and it just so happens that many Asians have a ADH2 deficiency. So you will get drunk fine, but you stay drunk for a long time. You can also get alcohol poisoning faster than other people because the aldehyde level builds up, but cannot be eliminated easily.

I’m Jewish. I can start to feel really unwell w. a small glass of sherry on an empty stomach.

OTOH, my paternal grandfather used to brew his own beer and make his own pickles; he introduced the concept of pickles and beer to my cousin Arnie, when he was 7. Guess who grew up to be a full-blown alcoholic? Not my grandfather.

My friend is Asian and had a shot of Vodka and was out of the couch for about 3 hours. But he said he got it from his mom. All the other Asian people I know dont drink. Maybe thats why.

@MissAnthrope You sound just like me, and I’m also of mostly Scottish descent. Maybe some scots also have the deficient alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme in our bloodlines?

I have to say the most drinking I have ever seen was in Tokyo, they drank more than my Irish friends in the midwest, and that is saying a lot. My husband, who is Mexican (but Mexican is like saying American, he is Israeli (Sephardic) on one side and French and Spanish on the other) gets looped on one beer, but he is a happy, kind of stupid drunk, so its ok. I am Ashkenazi Jewish and I can hold my liquor pretty well. Which is making me thnk that technically middle east is Asian, I wonder if they have the gene also? Or, I guess they just mean East Asia?