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At first, doctors didn’t believe a man that came into a Texas emergency room drunk and claimed that he had not been drinking. Blood alcohol tests determined that the man had a blood alcohol content of 0.37. Doctors were skeptical of the man’s story that he had not had anything to drink, but doctors Justin McCarthy and Barbara Cordell decided to investigate the man’s claims. In order to narrow down the cause of the phenomenon, the doctors isolated the man for 24 hours and repeatedly tested his blood alcohol levels. The doctors determined that after eating sugary or carbohydrate-rich foods, the man’s blood alcohol content began to rise.
Brings a New Meaning to Beer Belly
The doctors determined that the man had a build-up of a type of yeast in his stomach that was causing the peculiar chemical reaction. Certain types of helpful bacteria live in the stomach that keep the presence of yeasts at a certain level, so that food can be broken down and digested properly. If too much of the bacteria were killed, it would cause an excess of yeast. The particular yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, was built up in enough quantity to ferment the sugars from foods and beverages into ethanol right in his stomach.
The man told the doctors that he operates a home brewery. The doctors feel that it is possible that overexposure to the brewing yeasts may have had a hand in causing the yeast buildup that began to make the man feel drunk without warning. Certain types of antibiotics also kill the bacterium that regulates the yeast. To treat the man’s condition, the doctors prescribed an anti-fungal and recommended that the man stick to a diet that is low in carbs.
