A driver charged by police for drink driving was found to have a bizarre medical condition that caused his stomach to brew beer.
The 46-year-old was arrested and taken to hospital after refusing to take a breath test and telling police in North Carolina he hadn’t been drinking.
Tests showed he’d drunk the equivalent of 10 alcoholic beverages and he was diagnosed with auto-brewery syndrome (ABS), a condition which causes the stomach to create high levels of yeast.
ABS, also known as gut fermentation syndrome, is caused when ingested carbohydrates are converted to alcohol by fungi in the gastrointestinal tract.
The builder, who has not been named, told medics he’d been experiencing uncharacteristic personality changes for three years – including depression, confusion, memory loss and aggressive behaviour.
Gastroenterologist Dr Fahad Malik, from Richmond University Medical Centre in New York, who treated the man using anti-fungal therapies and probiotics, said a course of antibiotics may have triggered the man’s ABS.
He said: “The police, doctors, nurses and even his family told him he wasn’t telling the truth, that he must be a closet drinker.
“Now, he’s off antidepressants, back at work and finally getting on with his life.”
