Alcohol tolerance

[Cheb]

I thought we as fanfiction writers should be aware of this fact (as it's a fact of everyday life in Japan):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_flush_reaction

Alcohol flush reaction (colloquially referred to as Asian Flush, Asian Turn Red Syndrome, Asian Red, Asian Glow or "The Sniffles") is a condition in which the face and/or body experiences flushes or blotches, due to an accumulation of acetaldehyde. The acetaldehyde accumulation can be caused by a missense polymorphism that encodes the enzyme, acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2),[1] normally responsible for breaking down acetaldehyde, a product of the metabolism of alcohol [...]

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ ... 714rh.html

Forty to 45 percent of Japanese people have an inactive form of ALDH called ALDH2, which means they suffer those unpleasant consequences if they drink alcohol.

That could explain this:


What do you people think?

[mondu_the_fat]

I know EVERYONE I've ever drank with turns red at some point, even the habitual drinkers.

I've never even considered this wasn't the norm. There's even a local expression for it -- having had something to drink is "kulay chico" (which is a red-brown fruit). That Ranma blushes and gets easily drunk didn't surprise me, as I know people showing the drunken symptoms on a glass of wine or beer, never mind a chug of sake. This doesn't happen to caucasians?

[Ellen Kuhfeld]

It turns out cats are very susceptible to alcohol. They can't handle the biochemistry well, and it damages their kidneys. There goes the chance of having Luna and Artemis drunk out of their gourds, wailing from a fence.

On the other hand, Rhett Butler could probably get away with it.

[LawOhki]

Or it was simply used to show that Ranma is drunk which is a very common way to do it. It's similarly used during the hot springs obstacle course where both Ranma and Shampoo are red faced along with several other minor instances.

[Cheb]

, as I know people showing the drunken symptoms on a glass of wine or beer,

That's... That's ridiculous! How can it be?

For a Russian to go down like Ranma on these pages... It should have been a pure alcohol, not even vodka would be enough. But here, sake (AFAIK) is somewhere around 15%. It was a child's dose but she went and lost her consciousness.

This doesn't happen to caucasians?

I searched a little. If what I found is true, the Caucasians are more than twice as resistant to alcohol as the Asians are. They say that they gave the Chinese test subjects a dose that made 75% of them flush and show other symptoms. A dose double of that affected only 5% of the Americans.
I know people could get a bit red, but that's usually at the stage where they couldn't walk straight, which requires a lot of vodka. And most would go down long before they change color.

[Spokavriel]

I'm not so sure on the Cats front. After all the main way to make fruit juices shelf stable for sale before refrigeration was to make them into low alcohol wines and ciders. All they would need is to encounter a traditionalist who preserves their own juices and they could encounter alcohol that is so weak most people would need 3 gallons to get the same amount as in 1 can of beer but more than enough to leave them sheets to the wind.

[Ellen Kuhfeld]

I'm going to use good sake, but water it heavily for the cats. The rest of the wedding guests can have the good stuff.

[Drawde]

The blush is due to the alcohol opening the blood vessels. Since there's more blood flowing to the extremeties you blush, which is most noticable in the face.

This is why you don't give alcohol to someone who's freezing. The extra blood flow does warm up the extremeties such as your hands, feet, and ears. But at the cost of taking that heat away from your vital organs.

[Té Rowan]

I definitely feel a few degrees off plumb after a glass, especially when I haven't had one for a while. Not gunna pull Drunken Fist moves, but it affects me.

[Spokavriel]

Given Kuno's height and the thickness of the bottle. That was about 3 quarts to a gallon of Sake. And checking out a chart on alcohol content for commercially marketed Sake that sells that size bottles it could be anywhere from the strength of beer to 5 times stronger. If it were at the high end then she might as well have just been forced to swallow 3 cups of everclear. For someone that doesn't drink often that can be instantly lethal. I'd share the chart but its not allowing direct linking. You can find it through Google easily enough.

[Té Rowan]

Whereas Ranma, of course, will likely feel like Akane was repeatedly whacking him with the livingroom table the morning after. There's something to be said, after all, for anime physics and physique.