Red wine drinking is prone to cancer

People who blush when drinking alcohol should be especially wary of esophageal cancer, UK experts have warned.

About 8% of the population - most of them from Eastern origin - lack an enzyme called ALDH2 that causes their skin to redden when drinking alcohol.

The work of the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in the UK has found that even people who drink moderately but lack this enzyme are at risk.

Dr. Philip Brooks and colleagues investigated the gene that governs the production of the enzyme ALDH2, and found that those with a copy of the inactive gene had a 6-10 times higher risk of developing esophageal cancer than those with people with fully active enzyme ALDH2, despite drinking the same amount of alcohol.