Alcohol is a normalized part of socializing, from grabbing drinks after work to serving cocktails at parties. Many assume that a drink or two is fairly harmless.
While previous medical studies have claimed that a moderate amount of alcohol intake can be beneficial to health—such as red wine having cardiac benefits—Stanford University Center for Asian Health Research and Education’s Alcohol Intolerance and Cancer Awareness Program (AICAP) strives to shed light on these misconceptions.
AICAP was established in 2024 by Dr. Che-Hong Chen, a molecular biologist and geneticist at the Department of Chemical and Systems Biology at Stanford University, School of Medicine. Chen’s interest in alcohol intolerance—a condition where some people become flushed and nauseous when drinking—stemmed from his own basic research and a trip back to his hometown in Taiwan.
“Fifteen years ago, I went back to Taiwan and spent time talking to people about alcohol intolerance,” says Chen. “I realized there’s such a huge gap between people’s perception and what medical science is telling us. It’s a huge gap I’d like to close.”
Some of the misconceptions Chen heard from locals included the idea that flushing was a good sign, signifying how the liver could metabolize alcohol faster. Red faces were a sign of health to them. After hearing these misconceptions, Chen performed extensive literary research and discovered that it’s been well established that alcohol intolerance occurs when the body lacks the ALDH2 enzyme.
This enzyme deficiency impacts how the body breaks down acetaldehyde, a Group 1 carcinogen byproduct of alcohol metabolism. When the body lacks ALDH2, this leads to symptoms during alcohol consumption, such as facial flushing, increased heart rate and nausea. More importantly, chronic exposure to alcohol dramatically increases the risks of many diseases and cancer in people with the ALDH2 enzyme deficiency.
ALDH2 deficiency affects a whopping 540 million people, which is 8% of the global population. With this statistic in mind, Chen felt inclined to spread awareness of alcohol intolerance, particularly towards the East Asian community.
“This enzyme deficiency started over 3,000 years ago in the Southeast coastal area of China,” says Chen. “A person in that time frame had this mutation by random chance that destroyed his/her enzyme responsible for alcohol metabolism, and it was passed down for about one hundred generations, spreading to all East Asia regions. Today, alcohol-induced cancer among the Asian community is twice as high compared to the Caucasian community, mainly in the digestive tract locations including the oral cavity, throat, esophagus, stomach, liver and colorectum.”
Since taking on this mission, Chen established AICAP, an organization of faculty, students and community volunteers at Stanford Medicine’s Center for Asian Health Research and Education (CARE).
Their goal is to raise awareness around alcohol intolerance and its associated higher cancer risks in Asians, thus leading people to avoid or reduce alcohol consumption and to make wiser choices for a healthier and safer community. This is in line with the World Health Organization’s warning that “there is no safe level of alcohol consumption for health.”
Chen shares, “One good way to spread awareness is to educate the medical community and public, and what better way than to reach out to students? I like to mobilize student volunteers from universities and high schools to tell people about this problem and our program. I hope I can build a network.”
In addition to AICAP, Chen has also developed a partnership with the nonprofit organization Taiwan Alcohol Intolerance Education Society (TAIES). This led to the designation of marking May 9 in Taiwan as National No Alcohol Day. Chen says, “A Taiwanese student suggested the date to me because in Mandarin Chinese, May sounds like ‘no’ and nine means ‘alcohol.’”
Chen has traveled not only to Taiwan but also to Japan, Korea and Vietnam to educate local communities on the dangers of alcohol intolerance. With the passion and commitment behind AICAP and TAIES, he hopes to introduce further waves of change in the years to come, such as ensuring that alcohol bottles carry proper warning labels in the same way that cigarette packages do.
“My impact is very small compared to alcohol culture over hundreds of years and alcohol companies that have more money and power,” says Chen. “But I still feel rewarded doing community outreach. I have such a tremendous positive response from the general public. I feel this is worthwhile, and I believe we are saving lives.”
To learn more about AICAP, please visit aicap24.org.
