Information
Students Test Alcohol Tolerance – Without Drinking
AIU medical staff swaps the test liquid on a student’s arm.
Staff from the Student Services Team as well as AIU’s nursing and counseling staff, administered an alcohol patch test in Student Hall, designed to test for the presence or absence of certain alcohol processing enzymes. Many Japanese, as well as members of other East Asian races, have a genetic tendency to process alcohol into toxic acedaldehyde and also have reduced ability to break down that same chemical. The result is a far higher risk of alcohol poisoning and other ill effects. Since AIU brings together students from all across the world, students of different racial backgrounds have varying reactions to the test, depending on their genetic makeup.
The painless test took up to 17 minutes to register results and, in the mean time, students had a chance to read about the process and what each result meant for their sueceptibility, or to check their friends’ results shared on social media. A group of international students passed around smartphones to show what their classmates had posted about the results on facebook, while another international student confided that he thought the test was skewed.
“It doesn’t matter what result you get, the conclusion is that you’re in danger! If you are weak to alcohol, then you’re in danger because you could get drunk or sick easily trying to keep up with your friends. If you are strong, then you’re in danger because you will have a hard time keeping track of your limit and won’t know when you pass it.” Not much of a drinker, he proved to have a strong tolerance in the test.
“Of course,” the AIU counselor agreed with his assessment. “The point is to show that nobody is safe when it comes to alcohol consumption and, no matter what your tolerance, you should also pay close attention to how much you are drinking.”
With Student Hall already decorated for the Halloween Party, students gather round the testing tables to chat and relax while they await their results.
On October 30, students at AIU had the chance to test their susceptibility to alcohol poisoning, without having so much as a sip of liquor.
AIU medical staff swaps the test liquid on a student’s arm.
The painless test took up to 17 minutes to register results and, in the mean time, students had a chance to read about the process and what each result meant for their sueceptibility, or to check their friends’ results shared on social media. A group of international students passed around smartphones to show what their classmates had posted about the results on facebook, while another international student confided that he thought the test was skewed.
“It doesn’t matter what result you get, the conclusion is that you’re in danger! If you are weak to alcohol, then you’re in danger because you could get drunk or sick easily trying to keep up with your friends. If you are strong, then you’re in danger because you will have a hard time keeping track of your limit and won’t know when you pass it.” Not much of a drinker, he proved to have a strong tolerance in the test.
“Of course,” the AIU counselor agreed with his assessment. “The point is to show that nobody is safe when it comes to alcohol consumption and, no matter what your tolerance, you should also pay close attention to how much you are drinking.”
With Student Hall already decorated for the Halloween Party, students gather round the testing tables to chat and relax while they await their results.