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The wine culture of the Chinese nation has a long history, and wine is an indispensable drink in modern society. But as a people with thousands of years of drinking history, how much alcohol Chinese? Is it really the case that you drink a little and drink a lot of hurt?
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Compared with other regions, East Asians blush after drinking alcohol is particularly pronounced, and even has the title of "Asian blushing". China is a "blushing country", and it is well known that people who blush are not very good at drinking. Is Chinese really a people who can't drink very much?
The key to determining alcohol intake is the two types of alcohol-releasing enzymes in the liver: ethanol dehydrogenase (ADH) and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). In the first step after drinking alcohol, alcohol will be transformed into toxic acetaldehyde under the action of ADH; in the second step, acetaldehyde will become non-toxic acetic acid with the help of ALDH. The reason for blushing is that the acetaldehyde produced in the first step causes blood vessels to dilate.
In fact, the ability of Chinese to dissolve alcohol is not inferior in the first stage, even better than other countries. Because Chinese commonly carry the ADH1B gene variant, which greatly increases the activity of ADH and reduces the accumulation of ethanol in the body. It can be said that as soon as Chinese was born, he won perfectly in the first stage of the liquor!
But in the second stage, our innate deficiencies are exposed. ALDH has a mutation in the ALDH2 rs671 genotype that causes aldh to decrease in activity and does not convert acetaldehyde to acetic acid very quickly. Cell Research pointed out that through the genome analysis of the whole Chinese nation, it was found that the ALDH homozygous mutation rate of the Chinese was 4.50%, and the heterozygous mutation rate was 34.27%, which was significantly higher than that of the European and African populations.
This means that about 1/3 of Chinese are born with this mutated gene, and individuals with ALDH mutations have a higher risk of acetaldehyde accumulation. In addition, the Chinese's acetaldehyde production ability is stronger, which eventually leads to a large accumulation of acetaldehyde in the body, and the phenomenon of blushing when it is dipped in wine is very common. It can also be said that the amount of alcohol Chinese is written into our genes.
The preference for alcohol is closely related to the ALDH mutation. Among Chinese men, the average alcohol intake of the population without ALDH mutation was 157 grams per week, and the heterozygous mutation and homozygous mutation were 37 grams and 3 grams per week, respectively, and the proportion of drinkers among them was 45%, 16% and 1%, respectively. ADH mutations also have a certain effect on alcohol consumption, manifested as the most alcohol without mutations and the least homozygous mutants, but not as significantly as the aldh mutation.
doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31772-0
The study also found that people in northern China are indeed more able to drink than people in the south. Because the northern population has fewer ALDH mutations, the alcohol metabolism capacity is stronger than that of the southern population. Among ethnic groups, Tibetan, Mongolian and Yi compatriots have the least mutation in ALDH and rank first in the ability to dissolve alcohol, while the Han people in Lingnan and southeastern have the lowest alcohol consumption.
Congenital deficiency, the day after tomorrow to make up, the amount of alcohol can also be practiced?
To some extent, the amount of alcohol can indeed be practiced, because repeated drinking will make the body gradually adapt to the symptoms of dizziness after drinking, and the feeling of alcohol consumption becoming larger. Studies have shown that after long-term drinking, subjective alcohol tolerance will increase to varying degrees.
However, objectively, the alcoholase does not become significantly more because of more alcohol, nor does it change the rate of genetic mutation. The damage of alcohol to the body has not really decreased, and the amount of alcohol practiced is actually just an illusion. And some people can not get drunk by a thousand cups through exercise, in fact, the innate activity of alcohol-relieving enzymes is very high, and the potential is just tapped.
Since we are born with a small amount of alcohol, then we should drink and be happy, after all, it hurts to drink heavily?
There have indeed been many studies in the past that believe that moderate alcohol consumption is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. The Lancet published an article saying that alcohol intake was U-shaped with the incidence of stroke, cerebral hemorrhage and acute myocardial infarction, which means that moderate drinking seems to reduce the occurrence of these diseases compared with those who abstain from alcohol and alcohol.
Traditional epidemiological analysis found that about 64.5% of adult men in the Chinese population had a drinking habit, with an average daily alcohol intake of about 30 grams. When men drink about 100 grams of alcohol per week, they appear to have a lower risk of developing these three diseases. But this phenomenon is not obvious in women, probably because there are fewer female drinkers and data collection is biased.
But in genetic epidemiological analysis, the researchers reclassified Chinese populations based on genotypes of ADH and ALDH, and this U-shaped association disappeared. Moderate alcohol consumption in men did not show any protective effect on stroke, cerebral hemorrhage or acute myocardial infarction, and the risk of developing the disease steadily increased with increased alcohol intake. In women, ADH and ALDH variants were not clearly associated with these disorders.
According to this, The Lancet argues that the U-shaped association does not mean that moderate alcohol consumption is good for health. In fact, it may be because people with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases are more restrained or even abstain from alcohol, resulting in a reverse causal relationship, leading to the erroneous conclusion that not drinking alcohol but increasing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. ADH and ALDH genotype analysis is more objective, it shows that drinking is pleasant but also hurtful, no matter what kind of wine, can drink less and drink less.
In fact, the mainland also has clear recommendations for the amount of alcohol consumption of residents. The average daily alcohol intake should not exceed 25 grams, preferably no more than 15 grams. Taking 15 grams as the standard, the current proportion of male and female drinkers in the mainland is 56.8% and 27.8%, respectively. So, Chinese is in an awkward situation where you can't drink but drink a lot.
It can be seen that the amount of alcohol Chinese is not outstanding. The wine glass is in hand, or it is better to order it.
bibliography
2、Iona Y Millwood, et al. Conventional and genetic evidence on alcohol and vascular disease aetiology: a prospective study of 500 000 men and women in China. Lancet. 2019; 393(10183):1831-1842. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31772-0.
3. Ding Gangqiang, et al., editor-in-chief. Scientific Research Report on Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2021).Chinese Nutrition Society, January 2021.
Written by | Official Mizuki
Edit | Jessica