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Extreme Microbe Brewing: the Curse of Auto-Brewery Syndrome
An anonymous reader writes with a story excerpt that may inspire envy in some readers: "Most beer guts are the result of consuming fermented brew, but a new case study describes a rare syndrome that had one man's gut fermenting brew, not consuming it. It's called gut fermentation syndrome or auto-brewery syndrome, and it's 'a relatively unknown phenomenon in Western medicine' according to a study published in July's International Journal of Clinical Medicine. 'Only a few cases have been reported in the last three decades' according to Dr. Barbara Cordell, the dean of nursing at Panola College in Carthage, Texas, and Dr. Justin McCarthy, a Lubbock gastroenterologist, the study's authors." (More at NPR.)
Futuramas Bender already did it!
The NPR article noted it occurring after taking antibiotics.
In Nigeria people have been eating beetle larvae for centuries. Anthropologists have explained this as a rich nutrient source which could help mankind in the future. Now it turns out the little buggers (weevils) have an ethanol-content of more than 6 %! So, food or protein my ass. Those Nigerians were just getting some cheap booze!
The authors, Ogbonda & Kiin-Kabari (2013, http://www.academicjournals.org/SRE/PDF/pdf2013/11Feb/Ogbonda%20and%20Kiin-Kabari.pdf) write "Result will help to explain the observed intoxicating (auto-brewery syndrome) property of the larva".
Life is fantastic.
Different species of bacteria in your gut form competitive colonies. Antibiotics can wipe out the dominant species, allowing a different species to gain dominance and inhibit the previous dominant species from regaining its original population. Several years ago, my doctor diagnosed my constant stomachaches and vomiting as being caused by a certain type of bacteria which had colonized my stomach. He put me on a treatment of strong antibiotics to wipe them out and allow a more benign gut bacteria to take over. My symptoms went away after the treatment.
Similar things have happened on a macro scale. It's suspected the cod fishery off New England has suffered such a fate after severe overfishing led to its collapse in the 1990s. There have been draconian limits on commercial cod catches for two decades, but no rebound in the cod population. It's suspected that capelin have now taken over as the dominant species in that ecosystem. Capelin used to be eaten by the larger cod. But when overfishing decimated the cod stocks, the capelin were able to grow both in size and population. The theory is the tables have turned now and the capelin are eating the juvenile cod, preventing the cod from reaching the size and numbers which would threaten the dominance of the capelin.