If you're suffering from Asian flush, you know how hard it is to prevent it. The Internet is filled with home remedies, half truths, and advertisements all saying that they've found a way to help you out, for a small fee of course. Asian flush prevention is not as simple as some people make it out to be and preventing it starts with understanding what Asian flush is.

Asian flush is a condition that is officially called alcohol flush reaction. It is not al allergy to alcohol, or an allergy at all so should not be treated like one. Asian flush arises from the inability to metabolize alcohol and an allergy is the bodies misinterpretation of harmless substances as harmful ones. Now that we've got that out of the way we can move on to the next myth.

Asian flush is not only present in Asians. While the vast majority of people with alcohol flush reaction are of Asian descent, and almost fifty percent of Asians suffer from it, there are people of many races that also suffer from alcohol flush reaction. Asian flush prevention is not going to be dependant on your race.

Asian flush is caused by an inability to digest alcohol properly. In the first stages of alcohol metabolism, alcohol (ethanol) is broken down into acetaldehyde which is also a poisonous substance. This in turn should be further broken down by an enzyme called ALDH2, but those that suffer from Asian flush do not have enough of this enzyme in their body to break down this poison fast enough. That's why you get all the nasty reactions like hives, a red face and skin, dizziness, and a list of other uncomfortable feelings.

So is it possible to prevent it? I'll admit, I'm not a doctor but my personal opinion is that you've got to figure out a way to get your body to break down the acetaldehyde faster, or cause the alcohol to be broken down slower. This is going to be the only effective method of Asian flush prevention.

So how do you do prevent or cure Asian flush? Some have success with antacids like Zantac 75 or Pepcid to cure Asian flush, while other swear that products like the No Red Face Formula can prevent and cure Asian flush. These seem to work differently for each individual and rarely guarantee results. It seems that trial and error is the best solution for Asian flush prevention.