When your body becomes a brewery

"He wasn't crazy. His body had literally turned into a brewery. Cases like this have been mere medical anecdotes for decades, but they have just received the most solid scientific validation yet. A study published in Nature Microbiology, conducted by researchers at the University of California (UC) San Diego and Massachusetts General Hospital, has finally identified what happens inside the gut of these patients. More importantly, it has found a treatment that works: a stool transplant."

"The first medical description of auto-brewery syndrome (ABS) dates back to the late 19th century. But for generations, doctors were skeptical. How could anyone get drunk without drinking? Meanwhile, cases continued to occur, such as that of a Belgian man repeatedly accused of drunk driving; he was finally acquitted because it was proven that he had not drunk a drop. In 2019, a groundbreaking paper by Chinese researchers indicated ethanol-producing bacteria as the culprit."

A retired U.S. Navy officer developed symptoms of intoxication after taking antibiotics to treat prostate inflammation. He experienced drinking-like effects—disorientation, drowsiness, and speech difficulty—despite minimal alcohol intake. Auto-brewery syndrome has historical case reports and widespread medical skepticism. A study comparing 22 clinically documented ABS patients with 21 unaffected family members identified ethanol-producing bacteria in the gut as the source of endogenous alcohol production. The study showed that restoring normal gut microbial balance via stool transplant halts internal alcohol production and resolves symptoms, providing systematic validation and a treatment option for ABS.

Read at english.elpais.com