A 50-year-old woman would suddenly fall asleep multiple times while getting ready for work, slurring her speech and falling. She went to emergency departments seven times in two years and was diagnosed with alcohol intoxication. But she hadn't had alcohol in years, which her family confirmed.
This week's issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal includes a case report describing the rare condition, known as auto-brewery syndrome . What is auto-brewery syndrome? Auto-brewery syndrome, or gut fermentation syndrome, is thought to happen when the fungi or bacteria that colonizes our intestines begin producing alcohol through fermentation. Basically, the gut becomes a mini-brewery.
The condition is rare, and doctors, law enforcement and legal officials may not be aware of it. It can happen in the gastrointestinal system, mouth or urinary system . What's the science behind it? Dr.
Prasanna Wickremesinghe, a gastroenterologist in New York who wrote an earlier case report on auto-brewery syndrome, has said fermented sugars or carbohydrates from a patient's diet can produce alcohol. The alcohol is brewed internally, instead of at a brewery or winery. In the latest case, Dr.
Rahel Zewude, an infectious diseases physician at University of Toronto, and her co-authors said the fungi commonly identified in auto-brewery syndrome are Saccharomyces cerevisiae , or brewer's yeast, and candida species that can cause vaginal and skin infections. How common is it? Auto-brewery syndrome is.
