Nick Hess should stop the bread, pasta and fries, at least before he gets behind the wheel. Indeed, as the story goes the BBC website, this 34-year-old Briton suffers from a strange disease that causes his blood alcohol level to rise after consuming a meal rich in carbohydrates and without having served a single glass of alcohol. As a result, not only does the breathalyzer panic when it blows into it, but in addition it has to endure unpleasant symptoms such as headache, stomach ache and loss of balance.
This disease, known as the auto-brewing syndrome, leads to a transformation of sugar into ethanol after the absorption of foods rich in starch. There is currently no treatment.
The first findings of this syndrome date back to the 1970s in Japan. Researchers have found that some patients have an unusual enzyme in the intestines that turns starch into alcohol, just like in beer making.
More recently, one case was reported in Texas in 2013. But this syndrome remains (fortunately!) Very rare.
Regarding the case of Nick Hess, the latter has reviewed his diet and is only drunk “two or three times a month” as he explains to the BBC. However, we do not know if he counts the times he really goes out to the bar with his friends …
Read also:
– Infographic: the painful effects of a hangover
– Hangover: why some are not entitled to it
– Soon we will be able to drink alcohol without having a hangover
