Former, Director Grade Scientist, (Retired from Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India). E. mail: pdg2000@hotmail.co
This endogenous ethanol formation either in some disease, commonly known as gut fermentation syndrome, which is not common, but a regular formation of alcohol in human intestine of non drinker is a regular phenomena. It is need based phenomenon i.e. our body requires a certain quantity of alcohol every day throughout our lives. And we don’t wait until the legal or permissible age decided by the local government. Also it doesn’t matter what our religion teaches about alcohol. We still produce it and fulfil our body’s requirement. Alcoholic drinks are a major source of energy—for example, six pints of beer contain about 500 kcal and half a litre of whisky contains 1650 kcal.The daily energy requirement for a moderately active man is 3000 kcal and for a woman 2200 kcal.
The alcohol is largely produces by microbiota (bacteria and microscopic algae and fungi) present in the digestive tract. The primary fungi are yeast. They ferment carbohydrates and Junk food that cause excessive gas carbon dioxide, hydrogen, methane, hydrogen sulfide) formation. Gas releases from digestive track either through mouth by belching or via the anus. Further, a high carbs diet increases alcohol production. In addition, some scientists believe that our cells and tissues can also produce some ethanol. Ethanol is constantly formed endogenously that is convered to acetaldehyde by enzymes, which can be generated in situ from the metabolism of pyruvate, threonine, deoxyribose-5-phosphate, phosphoethanolamine, alanine and presumably from other substrates which are normally available endogeneously.
ALL NON-DRINKERS HAVE ALCOHOL IN THEIR INTESTINE