- So, a couple of days ago
I was catching up with a friend over drinks.
We were sitting down chatting,
and I turn to order another beer, when he said,
"Are you sure dude?
"Don't you glow?"
And I was like, "Glow?
"What the hell you talking about?"
And he said, "You know,
"well, when Asian people drink
"their faces get red.
"You know, Asian glow."
But I didn't know.
What was this Asian glow he's talking about?
And why did he think I had it?
And finally, is it actually a real thing?
("Ergo")
So, to start my quest,
I took the question to the streets of LA.
So, do you guys know what Asian glow is?
- Have no clue.
- No.
- I never seen it.
- A lot of my peers were Asian,
and they refused to drink
because they were embarrassed
because their faces would get very red.
- Well, I tend to get red very quickly.
It's normal, even if I'm not drunk yet.
- Is this real, though?
- She was right.
I still had my doubts too.
So, I called in some of my fellow Asian co-workers
to help me out.
OK, Carol, so do you know what Asian glow is?
- I know Asian glow very well.
I turn all red.
It's not even just my face.
My whole body just turns red.
- It just became a part of my life.
And I accepted it.
- It takes me about three shots to get drunk.
And then maybe like one shot to get Asian glow.
- Do you feel sick along with the a--
- My heart starts beating faster, or like harder.
And just like really hot and uncomfortable and dizzy.
- That sounds delightful.
- It makes me pretty sleepy.
And you can't party when you're sleepy.
- How would you say it effects you in a social aspect?
- I think as you get older you don't really care anymore.
- I don't drink, normally, because of this.
- People just think you're an alcoholic.
- Since you do get Asian glow,
would you mind perhaps showing me that you get--
- Sure.
- I got you a Smirnoff Ice. - [Carol] Thank you.
- A popular party drink among the kids.
So, as Carol downed her Smirnoff Ice,
Kane and Weston took a shot of tequila.
Delicious.
And then it happened, 15 minutes later
all three of them bloomed bright red
right before my eyes.
- [Carol] Surprise. My stomach gets really red too.
- Um--
- Don't you act like I'm a monster! (laughs)
- I'm just amazed that it's actually happening.
This is a real thing.
I can't believe it.
- It's super real.
But it's like I'm not drunk at all.
- Is this something you probably wish
there was like a cure all for?
Like go to Walgreens and you get a shot
and you don't get Asian glow for that whole year.
- For the whole year?
That'd be great!
- Would it actually just turn my stomach
into that of a white person's
and then I'll be able to
eat all the cheese I want to?
I don't know.
- I don't think it'll turn you
into a white person, necessarily.
- [Carol] Phew.
- Yeah, wouldn't it suck to be white?
- (laughing) Oh fuck that shit.
- And as I looked at my newly red colleagues,
I accepted it.
This is a real thing.
So, I thought it'd be best to call in an expert.
- What causes Asian glow is a build up
of a toxic metabolite of alcohol.
Probably about 50% of Asians turn red.
You drink alcohol,
it gets broken down
into a toxic substance called acetaldehyde.
And that's what causes flushing.
It can also cause fast heart rate.
It can cause nausea.
It gives you headaches.
So, that's bad stuff.
In Asians, they have a problem
because they can't get rid of this.
So, they have an enzyme that actually is maybe
50 times more effective at getting rid of the alcohol
and turning it into this toxic substance.
- And is that what makes us red?
- It makes you red and gives you the other things.
So, they don't really get so much of a buzz,
but they have all the toxins
and so they get all the side effects of it.
- Is there anything you could do to mitigate this?
Is there a cure?
- My best advice as a physician is don't drink.
If you feel like you have to drink,
then you can try histamine blockers.
And that would be commonly known as Pepcid.
- And there's nothing dangerous about Pepcid?
- Yeah, it really inactivates one of the enzymes
that breaks down the alcohol.
- Basically, the doc is saying
that Pepcid makes you drunker than you should be
based on the amount you've drank,
which was good enough of a green light for me.
So, I picked up some Pepcid
and tried it on the only person that would agree to do it.
- This is Pepcid Complete.
("Ergo")
- And just as strangely as the glow appeared,
the glow failed to appear with the use of Pepcid.
Although it doesn't work for everybody,
for Kane, Pepcid definitely worked.
So, it does work for some people.
There are solutions out there.
Or is the real take away,
you are gonna still have this,
and you're not gonna always have that,
so it may eventually come to the point
where you just embrace you are a part of something
that a lot of people have.
- Yeah, and you don't have to drink, either.
- So, the next time you go to a bar
and you see a stranger with an unusually red face,
just remember, it's normal.
And if you do get Asian glow,
don't be embarrassed, be proud.
There's a lot more of you than you think.
Cheers.
("Ergo")