How does my body produce more enzymes and how does this help process the alcohol through my body?
Your body produces enzymes as they are needed from the genetic code in your DNA. Enzymes are proteins. Some proteins are produced in response to stimulus. Others are produced on a "scheduled" basis. Some people have more genes for a specific enzyme than other people do. Some enzymes come in different forms known as isozymes. Liver alcohol dehydrogenase (LADH) is one such enzyme. Some LADH isozymes are more efficient at processing alcohol than others. Genetic predisposition toward the more effective alcohol processing forms of LADH affects your tolerance of alcohol. People without certain isozymes may have no tolerance of alcohol whatsoever. It has long been known that American Indians have a low tolerance for alcohol. This is a genetic predisposition that probably evolved through thousands of years without fermented beverages in their culture. People with lactose intolerance, for example, develop it as adults after many years of no longer drinking the quantities of milk they did when they were children. The body "realizes" that it is producing an enzyme it no longer uses and stops producing it. Unfortunately, the reverse does not work; you can't stimulate enzyme production beyond normal limits just by ingesting a substance like alcohol or dietary fats.
- Dr. Ken Krul
Is it possible to lack an enzyme(s) that processes alcohol or some other biological reaction that results in an "instant hangover", such that there is the presence of headache and nausea just within an hour or two after drinking alcohol?
Posted by: Jacque Till | January 18, 2007 at 10:33 PM
i when young could not tolerate alcohol,my son can better but gets eyes yellowish after a big weekend my daughter who has just turned 18 has had a few but now feels very nauseus and cant drink is this enzyme related
Posted by: lizette hansen | January 26, 2008 at 05:26 PM