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The man who produces “beer” in his intestines

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Almost ten years ago, an American was admitted to the emergency room with an extremely rare problem. In fact, the doctors discovered that the patient had a blood alcohol level of 3.7 grams per litre of blood, although he swore he hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol. This incredible case has naturally been the focus of research. It brings a whole new meaning to the term “beer belly”!

At the end of 2009, a 61 year old Texan presented himself to the hospital. He reported significant vertigo, which is symptomatic of excessive alcohol consumption. A breathalyser test also confirmed that the patient had a blood alcohol level of 3.7 g/l, which is seven times the legal limit for driving a car! However, it appears that the man had not even had a drop to drink.

Naturally, hospital staff doubted the authenticity of the patient’s claims, but his wife, a nurse by profession, supported her husband and confirmed that he had not in fact taken any alcohol. The doctors later learned that the man had previously undergone a foot operation, after which he had to take antibiotics. He claimed that after this operation, two glasses of alcohol were enough to make him sick, and that he experienced sensations of inebriation even without having drank alcohol.

The solution came from the patient’s wife, who indicated that she had done some research and suggested the term “gut fermentation syndrome” to describe his condition, an extremely rare disease which is very poorly documented. This problem is also referred to as “auto-brewery syndrome”. In 2010, the patient was invited to participate in an experiment, the details of which were published in 2013 in the International Journal of Clinical Medicine.

The patient was placed in a room for one entire day, without the right to visitors, and after a careful examination of his possessions. During the experiment, he was given a diet rich in sugars, and his blood alcohol level was measured every two hours by breathalyser test. According to the results, his blood alcohol levels reached 1.2 g/l.

The researchers proceeded to take samples from his intestines. They noted the presence of a yeast called Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a unicellular fungus that is widely used by bakers to cause bread to raise, and by brewers to make beer alcoholic!

According to the research team, the treatment the patient received after his foot operation was partially responsible for changes in his intestinal flora, which hadn’t done its job in eliminating the yeast, which went on to colonise the area. Thus, every time the man consumed sugar, the yeast transformed the glucose into alcohol, to produce the energy necessary for the glucose to be metabolised. The patient got better by eliminating sugar from his diet for six weeks and regularly taking anti-fungal medication.

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