Warning: Do not drink alcohol if you flush after drinking!

I have only drank drinks containing alcohol around three 2 to 4 times in the past few years mainly because my face turns red after drinking and also because I don't go to pubs anymore due to the stupid smoking rules (save a lot of money he he). Now I know the reason why I flush and its a good thing I stopped drinking! (Actually even if I don't drink my I flush easily =( ... under the sun, eating spicy stuff, exercising etc etc)

Alcohol flush 'shows cancer risk'

People who get a flushed face when they drink alcohol should be particularly wary of gullet cancer, experts warn.

About 8% of the population - mostly people of East Asian descent - have an enzyme deficiency that causes their skin to redden when they drink alcohol.

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism research found even moderate drinkers with this deficiency were more at risk of oesophageal cancer.

The report authors told PLoS Medicine such people may benefit from screening.

Alcohol-induced flush is predominantly down to an inherited deficiency in an enzyme called aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2).

Although this is widely known, few are aware of the accumulating evidence that ALDH2-deficient individuals are at much higher risk of oesophageal cancer from alcohol consumption, say the researchers.

Dr Philip Brooks and his team from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, working with Japanese colleagues, assessed how big the extra risk is.

They found individuals with one copy of the inactive gene causing ALDH2-deficiency were 6-10 times more likely to develop oesophageal cancer than individuals with the fully active ALDH2 enzyme who drank comparable amounts of alcohol.

They said if moderate or heavy drinking people with this deficiency were to become light drinkers instead, 53% of oesophageal cancers might be prevented among Japanese men.

They based their calculations on light consumption being fewer than 25 UK units of alcohol per week, moderate being fewer than 50 UK units and heavy being more than 50 UK units per week.

Full article at BBC NEWS

So if you also flush easily, you better stop drinking alcohol! Esophageal cancer is one of the deadliest cancers worldwide, with five-year survival rates of 15.6 percent in the United States, 12.3 percent in Europe, and 31.6 percent in Japan!! There are 540 million people like me in the world who flushes after drinking! Ban alcohol? He he, then its the end of the world for most people .... will you stop drinking??

(I think all the pub owners and alcoholic drink manufacturers must hate the doctors who did the research he he, smoking you already ban and now this?!?!?)