# My friend's seemingly bogus claim pertaining to Chinese people and alcohol **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 3, 2006, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friends-seemingly-bogus-claim-pertaining-to-chinese-people-and-alcohol/359320 "2006-06-03T22:46:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Crescend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Crescend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crescend)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friends-seemingly-bogus-claim-pertaining-to-chinese-people-and-alcohol/359320/21 "2006-06-05T03:14:11Z")
> [@kawaiitentaclebeast](#): > > Sorry, for got to ask. How does one pronouce “dehydrogenase”? Like [this](http://www.merriamwebster.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?dehydr07.wav=dehydrogenase). ---
**Author:** ![Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Throatwarbler_Mangrove)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friends-seemingly-bogus-claim-pertaining-to-chinese-people-and-alcohol/359320/22 "2006-06-05T03:26:42Z")
Thanks. After reviewing the material it seems to me that the H2 antagonists might mitigate the reaction caused by increased histamine production, but on the other hand, they do nothing to mitigate the actual ALDH1 and the long term ill-effects of excessive acetylaldehyde levels, correct? As such, **MetroGnome** may be unwittingly sending herself to an early grave by masking the outward effects of ALDH while subjecting herself to higher acetylaldehyde levels than her body is capable of metabolizing? Maybe you should just let your genes do their thing and seek other kinds of thrills? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friends-seemingly-bogus-claim-pertaining-to-chinese-people-and-alcohol/359320/23 "2006-06-05T11:22:30Z")
I’ve heard it said that this came about as a result of differing practices for making safe drinking water; in the west, we were boiling water and making beer; if you couldn’t cope with the alcohol content, your reproductive capacity would be statistically diminished; in the east, they were boiling water and making _tea_, so there was not so much reason for an alcohol-tolerance factor to prevail (or an alcohol-intolerance factor to be bred out). I believe a similar thing is true with Coeliac Sprue disorder (which causes a potentially life-threatening intolerance to gluten) - it’s markedly more common in people of Irish descent, where, for a significant portion of recent history, grains were supplanted by the gluten-free potato as a staple food - allowing the disorder to prevail in the gene pool where otherwise it might have been attentuated by its own symptoms. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friends-seemingly-bogus-claim-pertaining-to-chinese-people-and-alcohol/359320/24 "2006-06-06T00:09:52Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I’ve heard it said that this came about as a result of differing practices for making safe drinking water; in the west, we were boiling water and making beer; if you couldn’t cope with the alcohol content, your reproductive capacity would be statistically diminished; in the east, they were boiling water and making _tea_, so there was not so much reason for an alcohol-tolerance factor to prevail (or an alcohol-intolerance factor to be bred out). There may be some truth to that, but I suspect that cause and effect have been confused . After all, alcohol tolerance is the _norm_ and a non-functional acetaldehyde dehydrogenase gene is the mutation. This isn’t like lactose tolerance where the mutation spread because it was beneficial. In this case the mutation has spread despite conferring no advantage. While it is possible for such a mutation to spread simply by being neutral I’m finding it hard to believe in this case since alcohol has been produced in East Asia at least as long as in Europe or Africa. It seems to me that cause and effects have been confused here. East Asians adopted the use of tea because they couldn’t tolerate alcohol, they didn’t lose tolerance for alcohol because they adopted tea. > [@](#): > > I believe a similar thing is true with Coeliac Sprue disorder (which causes a potentially life-threatening intolerance to gluten) - it’s markedly more common in people of Irish descent, where, for a significant portion of recent history, grains were supplanted by the gluten-free potato as a staple food - allowing the disorder to prevail in the gene pool where otherwise it might have been attenuated by its own symptoms. Now that I can’t believe for a second. Irish were dependent on potatoes for what, 250 years tops? That’s about 12 generations. Even if we had a 100% death rate from coeliac disease, which of course we don’t, and even if coeliac disease was 100% genetic, which it isn’t, then 12 generations would be hard pressed to produce a statistically detectable difference in incidence from a starting base of 2/1000, which is about the incidence in non-Irish residents of the British Isles. And it’s not as though during that time no Irish people ate any wheat or oats. Potatoes were the staple but wheat and oats were always common dietary elements outside of times of famine. I’d be far more inclined to simply link any difference to environment, since it is known that coeliac disease is linked to numerous environmental factors in complex ways. It is not simply a genetic disorder. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friends-seemingly-bogus-claim-pertaining-to-chinese-people-and-alcohol/359320/25 "2006-06-07T07:29:02Z")
> [@Brain Wreck](#): > > Quite true. In my experience the enzyme deficiency never kept any Japanese from going on a binge. It just tended to take a little less time for them to turn red and start choosing Bon Jovi tunes off the karaoke box. Yep, doesn’t stop some people from trying to get me plowed at every _enkai_ either. I can tell when somebody has the deficiency because after about half a beer they start getting pink around the eyes. I’d be half dead from alcohol poisoning before looking like that, and I’ve got pretty fair skin. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friends-seemingly-bogus-claim-pertaining-to-chinese-people-and-alcohol/359320/26 "2006-06-07T11:20:13Z")
My hometown didn’t start getting “exotic” (i.e., not Hispanic-white) immigrants until a few years back. One day the lab at the hospital got a blood sample: general and liver profile. The results for the liver profile were way beyond hepatitis - more like “this guy died of cirrosis three years ago”. It was so unbelievable that the head of the lab decided to ask for a resample. Resamples are done by the head nurse at the blood bank. The nurse called the lab’s manager to come see the patient please. Spanish name all right, a fine, upstanding navarrese one. But the patient’s mother was Japanese. Armed with this piece of data, the lab called the Japanese embassy and asked could they please help them get blood sample “normal values” for Japanese? He did have hepatitis, but just a regular-sized one. _phew_ ---
**Author:** ![Grey\_area](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Grey\_area](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey_area)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friends-seemingly-bogus-claim-pertaining-to-chinese-people-and-alcohol/359320/27 "2006-06-07T15:55:55Z")
No cite at hand (sorry), but I remember seeing a UN stat stating that S. Korea is 2nd in the world in terms of per capita alcohol consumption (Slovenia was 1st, in case you were wondering). If you’ve ever been to Korea, I don’t think statistic would surprise anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friends-seemingly-bogus-claim-pertaining-to-chinese-people-and-alcohol/359320/28 "2006-06-07T16:29:07Z")
> [@FRDE](#): > > - never risk a Mai Tai (rice vodka) drinking session with a Chinese Are you saying that Mai Tais and rice wine are the same thing? ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friends-seemingly-bogus-claim-pertaining-to-chinese-people-and-alcohol/359320/29 "2006-06-07T17:47:21Z")
> [@Troy McClure SF](#): > > Are you saying that Mai Tais and rice wine are the same thing? First of all, it’s Mao Tai or Mou Tai, not Mai Tai - Mai Tais are American. Secondly, it is not really the same thing is rice wine because rice wine is not generally 120 proof and also because it’s made from sorghum, not rice. ---
**Author:** ![Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Throatwarbler_Mangrove)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friends-seemingly-bogus-claim-pertaining-to-chinese-people-and-alcohol/359320/30 "2006-06-07T19:13:22Z")
Rice wine = Fermented. Mao Tai = Distilled. You know, I’ve never been able to find a satisfactory English term to use for the variet of distilled sorghum liquors that the Chinese call “Bai Jiu”, literally, “white alchohol”. I’ve heard it sometimes referred to as “moonshine”, but I don’t think that’s really an accurate discription. ---
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friends-seemingly-bogus-claim-pertaining-to-chinese-people-and-alcohol/359320/31 "2006-06-07T20:40:23Z")
[This documentary](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-877443643928876680&q=chink+in+the+armour&pl=true), which involves the testing of several stereotypes about Chinese people and includes genuine film footage of Chinese people getting drunk, doing math, and being attacked by martial artists, is well worth viewing. ---
**Author:** ![MetroGnome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e7dd6/32.png) [@MetroGnome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MetroGnome)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friends-seemingly-bogus-claim-pertaining-to-chinese-people-and-alcohol/359320/32 "2006-06-08T01:29:04Z")
> [@kawaiitentaclebeast](#): > > As such, **MetroGnome** may be unwittingly sending herself to an early grave by masking the outward effects of ALDH while subjecting herself to higher acetylaldehyde levels than her body is capable of metabolizing? [GOB]C’Mon![/GOB] It’s been nearly ten years since I had long hair and I still get slapped with a Dude-Looks-Like-a-Lady, and in writing no less! What’s a guy gotta do, write about himself in the third person…? But to address the topic at hand, I only use the Pepcids when it’s esthetically necessary. I’m so acustomed to my usual state of drunkeness that I prefer being inebrieted _au natual_. It honestly never occured to me that Pepcid was making my intoxication less uncomfortable, thereby giving me the opportunity to drink more. More often than not I stop drinking because I’m tired of peeing. As to ALDH being more toxic than alcohol, I figure while I’m poisoning myself for kicks anyway, if I’m in for a penny, I’m in for a pound. > [@](#): > > Maybe you should just let your genes do their thing and seek other kinds of thrills? After many years living in the evergreen Northwest, trust me, I’ve found my spark 😉 . ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friends-seemingly-bogus-claim-pertaining-to-chinese-people-and-alcohol/359320/33 "2006-06-08T12:56:00Z")
> [@r4nd0mNumb3rs](#): > > If you’ve ever been to Korea, I don’t think statistic would surprise anyone. In the office where I work in university, plenty of people have come back with glowing reviews of banquets in Korea (accompanied by tales of Kareoke.) I also remember our Chinese student assistants going a bit red and not being able to take more than half a glass of wine at an office do, I thought they were just being shy 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JustAnotherGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/58f4c7/32.png) [@JustAnotherGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustAnotherGeek)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friends-seemingly-bogus-claim-pertaining-to-chinese-people-and-alcohol/359320/34 "2006-06-08T19:56:50Z")
> [@FisherQueen](#): > > [This documentary](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-877443643928876680&q=chink+in+the+armour&pl=true), which involves the testing of several stereotypes about Chinese people and includes genuine film footage of Chinese people getting drunk, doing math, and being attacked by martial artists, is well worth viewing. Just like I had to make my french housemate read the “Why does everyone hate the French” thread, I forwarded this video to my Chinese officemate (born and raised in China, maintains communication with family still there, has lived in the USA for ~7-8 years for his graduate work). He thought the video was very funny. But he also thought that much of the stereotypes were (at least) partially true. Speaking Chinese: He was not surprised at how many 2nd and 3rd generations could not translate from English to Chinese. But then again, there were so many idioms, neither he nor I think it was really a fair test. Driving: He said he thought it was probably true that many immigrants were not very good. He did not drive until he came to the US; he used a bike to travel. Math / hard working: He thought this was very funny. He told me that I had no idea how many lazy Chinese there were back in China. He actually thought that _Americans_ were very hard-working. I told him that he has only really seen the academics and that, trust me, there are a lot of lazy Americans. Alcohol: We both knew about the biological reasons. He said that for one of his friends from high school, one bottle of beer could get his whole family drunk! We also discussed how milk is difficult for many / most Asians (and, IIRC, Africans) to digest. Kung Fu: He took Kung Fu as an eighth grader as his physical education class, and, so far as he knows, all Chinese boys still do. I had thought that Tai Chi was more common than Kung Fu (not knowing about the 8th grade lessons), but he has told me that it is considered “sophisticated.” ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friends-seemingly-bogus-claim-pertaining-to-chinese-people-and-alcohol/359320/35 "2006-06-08T20:40:09Z")
> [@FlyingRamenMonster](#): > > First of all, it’s Mao Tai or Mou Tai, not Mai Tai Ah. I got to some weird bars but I sure didn’t think they were that weird. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friends-seemingly-bogus-claim-pertaining-to-chinese-people-and-alcohol/359320.md?page=1)