After receiving two DWIs in six months, 43-year-old Mark Mongiardo (@markmongiardo) lost everything: his job, his home, his wife, and two children.
He spent the first 15 years of his career as a physical education teacher, a high school baseball/basketball coach, a Division 1 baseball summer league coach, and an athletic director.
All that went down the drain. But the problem was that he hadn’t been drinking. It turns out that he has a rare disorder called auto-brewery syndrome, where his body turns carbohydrates and sugar into alcohol without consuming any alcoholic beverages. Now, he’s sharing his story on TikTok to spread awareness of this medical condition.
“Let me just tell you a little bit about auto-brewery syndrome,” Mark started his video.
“It’s a rare medical condition where the digestive system produces alcohol internally, often after consuming carbohydrates or sugar-rich foods. This leads to symptoms similar to alcohol intoxication, such as dizziness, confusion, and impaired coordination, even without drinking alcoholic beverages.”
Before his diagnosis, Mark displayed many signs of drinking, even when he hadn’t had any alcohol. He had symptoms like slurred speech and balance issues.
Coworkers would complain that he smelled like booze, and his wife was worried that he was drinking in secret because he was acting strangely.
According to the National Library of Medicine, other symptoms include feelings of confusion, bowel problems, balance issues, feeling tired, dizziness, vomiting, burping, and acting intoxicated.
The technical term for auto-brewery syndrome (ABS) is endogenous fermentation. The cause of the condition is yeast, particularly the strain called Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
It is the same organism that bakers and breweries use for their bread and beverages. In rare cases, the yeast can overgrow in your digestive tract and turn carbohydrates and sugar into ethanol, which is alcohol.
“My BAC, my blood alcohol content, will go from 0 to 0.17 in about 30 minutes, with the highest reaching about 0.26. That is dangerously elevated,” said Mark.
For reference, research shows that a BAC of 0.30 or higher would likely lead to alcohol poisoning. Most people’s guts contain a balanced microbiome to keep yeast populations in check.
However, things like diabetes or a diet high in sugar and carbohydrates can cause an overgrowth of yeast. In Mark’s case, the antibiotics he was taking from a previous surgery had resulted in the yeast multiplying out of control.
The solution has been to use anti-fungal medicines and to maintain a strict low-carb diet to starve the yeast. Since May 2019, he has been on a zero-sugar and zero-carb diet to prevent his body from producing intoxicating levels of ethanol.
He also monitors his BAC at home because he worries about driving with his children in the car.
Mark hopes that by spreading awareness of auto-brewery syndrome, he could help prevent others from going through the same uncertainties and losses he experienced.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
