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Han Fan Lim was only 19 when she discovered, after drinking only a quarter of a glass of beer, that she could not stay awake.  Her face was all red and she couldn't walk.  As she got older she continued to notice that when she drank even a few sips of wine her heart would pound.  What Lim has is a hereditary condition common to 40% of Asians that makes her system unable to process alcohol normally.  Those who have this condition and do no know it and continue to drink put themselves at higher risk for alcohol-related diseases like liver or esophageal cancer.

Asians with this condition who drink have unacceptably high levels of the toxin acetaldehyde which their bodies can not properly get rid of because they lack an enzyme called ALDH2.  When consuming alcohol in any form (including cough syrup) they can get red, blotchy skin, feel dizzy and nauseated, or have an irregular heart-beat.  The inactive enzyme (a variation of the normal ALDH2 enzyme) is found in 45% of Chinese and Japanese people, 30% of Koreans, 10% of Thais and 1% of Filipinos according to German researchers at Hamburg University.  About 5% of these five groups have inherited the trait from both of their parents, making them almost completely alcohol-intolerant.

Some physicians recommend getting tested for the deficient gene.  Common medical advise is for Asians who discover they have "Asian Flush" to just not drink.

With peer pressure to drink in high school and college, our children need to be aware of Asian Flush and how even low levels of alcohol consumption can cause serious problems, including death.  While normal fatal levels of blood alcohol are 2.25mg to 6.23, for people with Asian Flush the fatal range is much much lower.  Social drinking with peers in the teen years becomes a very high-risk activity for unknowing adoptess.