The patient had an infection with Saccharomyces cerevisiae. So when he ate or drank lots of starch — a bagel, pasta or even a soda — the yeast fermented the sugars into ethanol, and he would get drunk.
Apparently, a man in East Texas was actually brewing beer in his belly. Is that your ultimate personal nightmare come true or best beer fantasy of all time? We’re thinking the former. According to a bunch of articles floating around the Internet (including this Houston ABC affiliate), the man (who shall remain nameless!) has felt symptoms of being drunk for some five years. Lot’s of folks pegged him as just being a closet drunk, but a research team at Panola College in Carthage, Texas, discovered the poor guy had a rare medical condition called “Auto-Brewery Syndrome,” also known as “Gut Fermentation Syndrome.”
Experts found that a yeast infection in the intestines can cause fermentation and make people feel intoxicated. Results also revealed that a specific combination of glucose and a high-carbohydrate diet increased a patient’s blood alcohol level well above the legal limit of .08. The cure? An anti-yeast medication.
“He was dizzy and feeling unusual,” Dr. Barbara Cordell, nursing school dean at Panola, told KLTV in Tyler. “His wife is actually a nurse. She was suspicious that he smelled like alcohol and seemed like he was drunk and intoxicated. So he said he hadn’t been drinking; she believed him; I believed him. So, we really tried to figure out what was going on with him.”
