Auto brewery syndrome

bmjopengastro.bmj.com...

Came across this and had to share. I've honestly never heard of auto brewery syndrome. But, the gist of it is

Auto-brewery syndrome (ABS), also known as gut fermentation syndrome, is a rarely diagnosed medical condition where ingested carbohydrates are converted to alcohol by fungi in the gastrointestinal tract. Patients with this condition become inebriated and suffer all the medical and social implications of alcoholism, including arrest for drunken driving. This report details the case of a patient who manifested many of the alcohol-related symptoms yet claimed repeatedly that he had not ingested any alcohol. 

The particular case in the study seems pretty extreme

A previously active, healthy, 46-year-old man (height, 6 feet 2 inches; weight, 230 lbs; body mass index, 30 kg/m2) with no significant medical or psychiatric history sought our help for the confirmation and treatment of ABS.

He complained of having had memory loss, mental changes, and episodes of depression for over 6 years starting in January of 2011. These changes started to occur after he received antibiotic therapy (cephalexin 250 mg orally three times a day for 3 weeks) for a complicated traumatic thumb injury. One week after the completion of his antibiotic therapy, personality changes with episodes of depression, ‘brain fog’, and aggressive behaviour became apparent...

One morning, he was arrested for presumed driving while intoxicated (DWI). He refused a breathalyser analysis and was hospitalised. His initial blood alcohol level was 200 mg/dL. The hospital personnel and police refused to believe him when he repeatedly denied alcohol ingestion.

It does seem after time and testing with various carbohydrate diets they were able to figure out what was going on and using antifungals treat the guy but what a strange bewildering experience it would be to have that.

STOMACH brewery?

sounds like heaven;

but so much for free will; is there a possessed componenrlt or what?!!

a reply to: dug88

I heard of a case of this one time, but I didn't know the name for this condition. 'Auto brewery syndrome'. I guess that sums it up.

The case I heard of was hearsay, because I am a MRO who interprets drug testing for a hospital. Other MRO's told me of a woman who repeatedly failed her alcohol test (she was a driver for the big propane gas trucks, and they actually test for alcohol regularly). The testing done for her job was VERY sensitive, and any alcohol at all got her fired, and she DID get fired. She claimed never to drink, and sued, and somehow they were able to diagnose her with this. She didn't get her job back, but she kept her pension and other benefits, and went on disability. Crazy stuff!

They should have tried antifungals, like stated above, but this was over a decade ago, and probably nobody considered that!

Now if we could just figure out how to get auto gardening syndrome going on so our guts would grow their own food.

There is something similar medically which can put you over the limit for driving if you are unlucky to be born with it , Alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency www.blf.org.uk... .

Your liver will not break down some foods and or Alcohol , i have this and have been busted twice for driving under the influence and i only had a pint of beer 560 ml , the second time it was the alcohol in the air fed masks fumes , filter was kaput in it .

And from what i have read a large proportion of people carry this gene and do not know it or have any affects till later in life , i had put it down to IBS and did not know better until a decade ago , but by then the damage was done .

Some of the chemicals at my work were vicious and people would think you were drunk because of the colour of eyes , i used to walk through liquid plastic atmospheres and laugh at it without a mask on .

Paying that price now

I can't imagine how this works.. not enough to cause inhebriation.. takes weeks to ferment sugars to an appreciable amount of alcohol and then large amounts of liquids to carry it.
Do they have auto distillation germs or what? Lol
Lets harvest these people for their super yeast! For... science! *hic*

I actually know a few people who get a little tipsy if they eat too much carbs. One was diagnosed with some sort of imbalance in the gut and she did get some help with it being a problem a few years ago. I do not know how the doctor figured it out or what led up to the identification of the problem. I did not personally talk to her, I heard it through a common friend. I think the person said she went Keto and it keeps it at bay.

The other person who gets drunk off of doughnuts has not been diagnosed, he is happy with his doughnuts. Cheaper than beer.

A standard beer yeast or distilled yeast can do the job in 7 days.

There is a Norweigan strain/blend of Sacc. cerevisiae that can take a beer from grain to class in 4 days.


Turning the sugars into alcohol is fairly quick with the right yeasts, it’s fisnibing and dropping bright that takes most beers the extra days.


If fermenting just to run through a still, you go hot and fast just and have it done in 2-3 days because the flavors are not so impoartant at that stage.
a reply to: gallop

Is there any way you can order this online?