I'm Jennie Kim, I'm of Korean descent and I experience alcohol flush reaction.
>> Well for those of us like me who have not
experienced the alcohol flush reaction, can you describe it for us.
>> Basically I get really warm and I turn bright red whenever I drink alcohol
>> I see, do you, is it associated with any feelings of being sick?
>> I get a little bit queasy. I don't tolerate alcohol very well and I
really can't drink more than a couple of drinks at a time.
>> I see. So your tolerance then is maybe a little
bit lower than other people of your same height and size?
>> Exactly.
>> Now, is this something that's common in your family? It is, my
dad also experienced lacall flesh reaction, and
he really doesn't drink as a result.
>> Now, when did you first realize that you had this kind of alcohol flush?
>> It's kind of a funny story, my mom was
looking through my Facebook party pictures back when I was in
college. And one day she just, sort of as she was looking
through them, looked up and me and said, why you so sunburned
in all your pictures? And that's when I realized something was up.
>> I see. So it wasn't actually even, you know, you noticed
something about yourself as much as you felt a certain way. Maybe you
didn't have anything to compare it to per se like, from a personal
experience and your mom sort of, was like, wow, you look really red.
>> Yeah, my mom
didn't, didn't understand, because she herself
does not have alcohol flush reaction.
>> I see. Now, does this mean that you have any
personal genetic information about yourself or
your family for this particular trait?
>> Yes, we've all, we've all used 23 in me.
>> You have? And what was your report
for the ALDH two, the aldehyde dehydrogenase enzyme?
>> If I can remember correctly, my father and
I only have one working copy of that gene.
>> I see, so you're heterozygous?
>> Yes.
>> So, wow, so that means you well we don't know who you inherited it
from unless we know, is your mom, you said your mom does not have this?
>> No.
>> I see, so you know that you inherited this from your dad.
>> Definitely from my dad, yeah.
>> Wow, how does that make you feel?
>> I dunno, just empathetic I guess.
>>
[LAUGH]
>> For my dad.
[LAUGH]
>> do you consider this, a, I guess a good or a bad
trait at all? Or a positive or a negative thing? Well, it's funny
that you asked that, you know, I think if you'd asked me this
in col, back in college, I would have said it's definitely a negative
thing. I wish I didn't have it. Then I could, you know, have
champagne all the time and it would be awesome. but now I'm actually
pretty grateful for it. first of all, it's good I think that it
helps me be more aware of the impact that alcohol has on my body.
>> Mm-hm.
>> Which is generally a good thing for my health and
well-being and second, I actually kind of like, or at least appreciate,
strangely enough, how this reaction is
somewhat socially embarrassing and awkward. I
actually appreciate feeling bad about myself
sometimes, because that's why I'm funny.
>> You raise an interesting point there, as someone who experiences alcohol
flesh reaction, and let's say someone watching this class maybe is only just
discovering this for themselves. Isn't it an embarrassing feeling, or
like do people ever make fun of you for it, or?
>> Well, you know, I think back when I
started noticing it, I was much more self-concious. I
like to think though that people are really too
self-involved to really notice other people, at least I am.
[LAUGH]
So I have become a lot more comfortable with
that, and I also just don't care as much.
so obviously the disadvantages of alcohol flush
reaction are that you can feel kind of
bad. You don't have that high of a tolerance, and there may be some kind
of awkward social stuff occasionally. Are there
any advantages, besides the ones you mentioned about
you know, being more self-aware about yourself?
Is there any kind of other advantage to?
>> I actually like the fact that it moderates. It forces me to moderate
my drinking, and to be pretty judicious about drinking. I always have to ask
myself, like, is this cocktail really worth it?
I have a saying that I can either
be drinking, or I can be cute, but I can't be both at the same time.
>>
[LAUGH]
>> So, I'll often just choose to be cute, and, you know, just choose
not to partake in, in alcohol at all and as I'm getting older I
kind of appreciate that more, to have that, to have that choice, and I
feel better, you know, in the mornings
than maybe some of my other friends would.
>> How
do you think this particular trait of
the alcohol flush is seen culturally and socially
by other people, even outside your own
personal experience, how do you think it's portrayed?
>> I actually don't know. I've just never been on
the other side of it.I, I imagine again that it's
kind of like my mom. People would just ask, like,
are you okay, or are you sunburned, or what happened there?
>>
[LAUGH]
>> but I don't know if people really, really are aware of it,
or, you know, know that much about it. It usually helps when you're
out drinking and getting this reaction.
Other people around you are also drinking,
so maybe that also contributes to the fact that people are less aware.
>> Right, have you ever felt
pressured to drink, even though you
didn't want to specifically for this reason?
>> No, that's just not my nature in general. You in
know my, my thinking is, as far as alcohol flush reaction
is concerned, is just, it's kind of like singing show tunes,
or getting sleepy, it's just something that happens naturally when I drink.
>> If you had the chance to change
this trait about yourself, would you change it?
>> It's funny that you ask, you ask that. I mean if you asked me the
same question ten years ago when I was still in college
I would have said yes, definitely, get rid of it now,
champagne for everyone. but today I actually really appreciate it. I
mean first of all I appreciate the fact that it forces
me to moderate my drinking and to be more aware of
the impact alcohol has on my body. Second of all, I
appreciate the kind of embarrassing effects that it has because, you
know, it forces me to be comfortable with being uncomfortable and
feeling awkward. and also I think it's important that, I'll call
flush that you, that I realize that this, this condition is completely
under my control, you know, if I don't drink alcohol, then
I don't turn red, you know, I just stay normal Asian colored.
>>
[LAUGH]
>> Period, and that's a huge factor. I think
it would be much, for me, it would be a
lot more difficult if this was something that I had
no control over. So, for example, like asthma attacks, or
seizures, or allergies, or things that, you know, you might
not have control of, over the stimulus and the reaction
to me that would be a lot more debilitating. So
for me, this is not that big of a deal.
>> What about any kind of any kind of medication? You know, for lactose
intolerance and people whose bodies don't metabolize lactose very
easily, they can actually take a bioactive form of lactase
which allows them to digest dairy products is there anything
like that for alcohol flush reaction that you know of?
>> There's kind of this over the counter remedy
that a lot of like, my Asian peers and
I discovered it's just an over the counter antacid
or acid reducing pill, which I used to call
the anti Asian pill and I used to take that
when I drank. But later, I found out that research shows
that actually isn't good for you to suppress your body's
symptoms as it processes its toxins so I stopped taking it.
>> Wow, I did not know that
so what advice would you give to an individual
who may be watching this for the first time, maybe
discovering that, you know they have alcohol flush reaction.
Is there any important advice you would give that person?
>> Well, I'd tell this person, let's just call her 21
year old Jennie Kim, I'd tell her first of all you're
going to need a good full cover foundation that looks natural and
also photographs well, for those nights out when you'll be drinking. Makeup
Forever makes a good one, number 173. It looks too
dark in the bottle, but trust me, that's your shade.
And then second, I would tell her, don't sweat it,
don't worry about it, you know, just be grateful that
you are able to consume that much alcohol in one
sitting, you know, use those calories for cheese fries instead,
because that body's not going to keep itself. And finally, I
would tell 21-year-old me that it's okay to feel embarrassed, because,
you know, yeah, it's embarrassing to look like a
cherry Jolly Rancher next to your cute blonde friend at
the club. Nobody wants to do that, but you
know what, life is embarrassing, life is messy. Life is
like, your big red face, you know, it's how
you handle it that matters. And I can tell, I
could tell her right now that, you know, while you're
cute blonde friends might stay perfect, they'll never be hilarious.
[LAUGH]
And also stay away from gauchos, because that's not a good look for anyone.
>> Duly noted, I think that's good
advice overall. Jenny, thanks for joining us.
>> Thank you.