The presence of alcohol in human specimens containing glucose and yeast should come as no surprise. Several have made this observation. Under normal circumstances trace amounts of alcohol may be found in the blood; the alcohol is then channeled into an energy pathway by hepatic alcohol dehydrogenase.

The Japanese report the auto brewery syndrome in which they have seen middle aged patients with bowel abnormalities, most often after surgery, who have yeast overgrowth, usually candida, in the G.I. tract and who ferment ingested carbohydrates, producing enough alcohol to result in drunkeness.' Mullholland and Townsend, 'Bladder Beer ' A New Clinical Observation', 95 Transactions of the American Clinical Climatological Association 34.

In other words, the body is manufacturing alcohol by itself ' in some cases, enough to become legally intoxicated. This has been confirmed by other studies.

So can this be used as a legal defense in court to combat a DUI charge? Don't count on it. Unless the breathalyzer machine isn't working properly, once they see that you've been "drinking" it's up to you to prove you weren't in court. And if this really happened to you, you would need a great doctor to prove your body indeed produced enough alcohol to consider you legally intoxicated. More.