The human liver can produce alcohol. How is this possible?

Even if you consider yourself inveterateguardian of a healthy lifestyle, it is likely that your liver itself is capable of producing alcohol in fairly large quantities! By the way, such an unusual discovery was recently made by Chinese scientists who encountered a new type of “intoxicating” microbes within the walls of the Metropolitan Institute of Pediatrics in China.

It seems that drink lovers have an original excuse, which has a scientific basis

Why is man getting drunk?

The specific effects of alcohol on behaviormany of us know a person very well. However, hardly half of all those who have ever experienced the effects of alcoholic beverages can explain the reason for the processes that begin to occur in the human body after drinking even a small volume of this liquid. The main role in starting the process of intoxication is given to ethanol, which is present in absolutely any alcoholic beverage. Once in the human body, ethanol is rapidly absorbed by the stomach, from where it enters the circulatory system. Being in the bloodstream, alcohol blocks the flow of blood, leaving behind temporary microtubuses, which lead to the onset of mild hypoxia.

Hypoxia is a lack of oxygen,in which a person begins to feel dizzy, control over the body and consciousness is lost. However, if a mild state of hypoxia does not do much harm to a person, then its severe forms can lead to fatal and sometimes even irreversible consequences for the brain.

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Bacteria can make the liver produce alcohol

Despite the fact that the process of intoxication occursmost often as a result of a person’s decision to use a certain dose of alcohol, sometimes a person is able to get drunk and without his will. An amazing incident occurred in one of the Chinese clinics, where an unusual patient with the so-called auto-brewery syndrome was admitted for treatment (well, sometimes, everything is okay with the doctors’s sense of humor). Patients suffering from this disease can become very intoxicated as a result of consuming absolutely any products containing sugar in their composition. So, the concentration of alcohol in the blood of a young man who went to the Chinese Institute of Pediatrics for treatment, after eating sweet food, could reach a record 400 milligrams per liter of blood.

The liver of a frequently-drinking person (left) and the liver of a healthy person (right)

Scientists believe that cause a similar conditioncould have special bacteria associated with a fungal infection. In other words, those suffering from the “car brewery” symptom may not realize that there are microscopic creatures in their gut capable of synthesizing large doses of ethanol. In addition, not only bacteria and fungi can cause a similar condition, but also very specific diseases.

By the way, how often do you usealcoholic drinks? Do you consider its harm compensated or do you prefer to completely abandon alcohol? Let's try to arrange a survey on this topic in our Telegram chat.

Studies have shown that if available inthe body of the so-called non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, primarily affecting the liver, the symptom of sudden intoxication is very similar to alcohol. In addition, experts believe that previously considered extremely rare, the disease has recently increased its exposure. The reasons for the increase in the number of registered cases of morbidity can be a widespread lack of protein in the diet, susceptibility to diabetes and obesity, as well as the use of drugs aimed at rapid weight loss.