The Body As Brewery
We are passing from the throes of summertime, playtime, party time! This is typically a time when alcohol consumption goes up and common sense goes down! Especially this year after over the year and half confines of the COVID-19 pandemic, people have been partying a little harder than usual. This brings me to the topic of how people who drink very little alcohol or none at all can present as drunk due to the little recognized and acknowledged condition known as Auto-Brewery Syndrome.
What Is Auto-Brewery Syndrome
Auto-brewery syndrome describes the condition in which a person will exhibit the features of intoxication, not due to drinking alcohol but to abnormal gut yeast proliferation and internal production of alcohol after eating carbohydrate-rich meals. The guts of these people are like a brewery freshly manufacturing alcohol from the foods they eat. This is a real thing, and it is widely recognized in Japan, but not in the U.S. For people who have this syndrome, they can drive erratically without having had a drink at all. For some of them, they can become completely drunk on one or two glasses of wine. Some people who have this syndrome actually get stopped for drunk driving and their blood alcohol level will test over the legal limit and they’ve not even had one drink. So, of course the cops think they are lying.
Just Another Painful Manifestation Of The Yeast Syndrome
Millions of people suffer from the yeast syndrome which can cause pain in every part of the body and continues to be undiagnosed in this country. Auto-brewery syndrome is just one more way the yeast syndrome negatively impacts health and behavior. If you crave and eat a lot of sugar and wheat-based breads, snacks and other carbohydrates such as fruit juice or if you have been on antibiotics frequently or for prolonged periods of time, your gut can produce significant overgrowth of yeasts which then begin to ferment the sugars in carbohydrate-rich foods. The slow, continuous production of alcohol by fermentation in your gut over time can flood your system with higher blood levels, creating unexpected hazards.
Cheap Date And Yeast Syndrome Victim
If you have ever felt tipsy or drunk after eating any kind of carbohydrate rich meal consumed without a glass of wine or any kind of alcoholic beverage, you are likely a living breathing brewery. (You may also be considered a cheap date by whoever is paying for dinner!) This condition can improve dramatically with the proper treatment, but it has to be recognized before it can be treated. Most doctors do not recognize the yeast syndrome, so you may not have a chance with your regular M.D. Integrative doctors are more likely to be familiar with this condition and might well be able to diagnose. If you would like to find out if you are suffering as a result of yeast, give my office a call.
