Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Jews and Wine

I come from a giant Jewish family. Something that's always been interesting to me is what I've called the "wine conundrum" in our culture. Wine is an integral piece of the Jewish story - we drink it every Friday for Shabbat, you're instructed to have at least 4 glasses on Passover (and you literally put wine on your prayer book during this holiday), and for Purim, according to the Talmudic tractate Megillah, "a person is obligated to drink on Purim until he does not know the difference between 'cursed be Haman' and 'blessed be Mordechai.' "

So why, then, am I one of three cousins (out of a total of 20+, the other two being my full-blood siblings) that can have more than a glass of wine without getting sick and/or falling asleep? And did you know that Israel has one of the lowest incidences of alcoholism in the world?

It's likely because of a genetic mutation called ADH2*2, which increases the levels of acetaldehyde in your blood stream. Acetaldehyde is a toxic chemical produced when your body metabolizes alcohol - and it causes some pretty nasty effects like headaches, nausea, and flushing ("glow"). Though not exclusive to the Jewish population, about 20% of Jews have this mutation, and the effects are strongest for Ashkenazi Jews (aka my family). 

This mutation is very rare among those with white European descent. Fortunately for my wine-drinking habits, my father is 100% not Jewish, with a Certified Eastern European Liver (pretty sure that's the official scientific term for someone as far away from the ADH2*2 mutation as possible). I confirmed with the 23andMe test that I do not have this mutation, and process alcohol normally.

Thank goodness, and l'chaim!

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