A man had Charged with drunk driving His truck crashed and 11,000 salmon spilled onto an Oregon highway.the other is secret record His wife was convinced he was a secret alcoholic. In Belgium, a brewery worker was recently pulled over and given a breathalyzer test, which revealed his blood alcohol content was more than four times the legal limit for drivers.
question? None of these people had been drinking.
Instead, they were all diagnosed with a rare disorder called autobrewery syndrome, in which a person’s intestines ferment carbohydrates into ethanol, effectively brewing alcohol in the body.
A Belgian man was acquitted of drink-driving charges this week – with a court finding that he was not an alcoholic; His body is essentially brewing its own beer.
It’s the latest turning point in the spotlight for the strange disease, which regularly appears in a series of headlines after particularly strange or shocking cases. Most of the incidents involve accusations of drunk driving, a condition in which people with the condition, known as ABS, believe they are sober while behind the wheel of a car. Reactions to this defense often range from admiration to dismissal, but doctors and science have long supported that this strange condition does exist.
This condition has been studied to some extent for more than a century. When people with this syndrome eat carbohydrates, fungi in the gastrointestinal tract convert them into ethanol. This process produces all the normal consequences of intoxication—lack of coordination, memory loss, aggressive behavior—without the need to drink alcohol.
Perhaps most confusing of all, the disease can cause people to reach traditional levels of alcohol in their blood that would be fatal. A woman was pulled over for a flat tire in New York and had her breath analyzed, Measured value 0.40, a level considered potentially fatal. While many people with the disorder do exhibit the more traditional effects of drinking alcohol, others are known to behave mostly sober, even when tests show they clearly are not.
In Belgium, brewery worker An unnamed 40-year-old man was pulled over by police in April 2022 with a blood-alcohol level more than four times the legal limit, according to his attorney. A month later, he was stopped again, registering more than three times the limit.
This is the third time the man has been cited — in 2019, he was pulled over and fined for driving under the influence. He didn’t know he had ABS until the latest accusation – tests by three doctors confirmed he had the condition and his claims were corroborated in court.
“I think he’s somewhat relieved that he finally knows what happened,” said the man’s lawyer, Anse Ghesquiere. Her client is now on a strict diet and receiving treatment to avoid flare-ups and keep the condition under control.
Although only a few dozen people worldwide have been officially diagnosed with the disease, A recent study Indicates that this condition may be overlooked in others.
