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Rare Condition Results In Man Getting Drunk From Carbohydrates

Rare Condition Results In Man Getting Drunk From Carbohydrates


35-year-old Nick Hess, of Columbus, Ohio, suffers from auto-brewery syndrome, which means that any carbohydrates he ingests turn into alcohol inside of his body. Basically, the American can get drunk simply by eating potatoes at dinner every, single night.

Before being diagnosed with this rare condition, a lot of people within his family thought he may have been an alcoholic. His wife, Karen, was concerned when she filmed him slurring and stumbling around after eating, which he could not recall after-the-fact. He said: “When she first accused me of being drunk, without drinking, I thought she was crazy. But friends and family thought, ‘Maybe he is over there, drinking by himself, a secret alcoholic’. I looked into my eyes [in the footage] and could see I wasn’t there. It was terrifying, I couldn’t remember it.”

Doctors then discovered the syndrome, and noticed his yeast levels were 400 percent higher than a normal person. He controls what he eats now, but it’s definitely affecting him and his life.