# Do we produce alcohol in our body? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 3, 2005, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-produce-alcohol-in-our-body/324533 "2005-10-03T04:33:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fifty-six](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@fifty-six](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fifty-six)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-produce-alcohol-in-our-body/324533/1 "2005-10-03T04:33:16Z")
Does the body produce alcohol on its own? I have been told that a couple bannanas can produce as much as once ounce of alchohol in a person, and a large person may produce a bit more as they have a larger “fermentation tank.” I have never been able to find any research on the subject. The argument is plausable, I guess. Yeast and sugar and warmth in the digestive tract. But on the other hand I dont think it stays long enough. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-produce-alcohol-in-our-body/324533/2 "2005-10-03T07:30:44Z")
> [@](#): > > The human body constantly produces small amounts of alcohol itself. Normal levels of 0.01 to 0.03 mg of alcohol/100 ml are contained in the blood. By contrast, a blood alcohol limit for driving of 0.05 per cent is equal to around 50 mg of alcohol/100 ml of blood. from [http://www.allergy.org.au/aer/infobulletins/Alcohol\_Allergy.htm](http://www.allergy.org.au/aer/infobulletins/Alcohol_Allergy.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-produce-alcohol-in-our-body/324533/3 "2005-10-03T07:32:20Z")
Humans sure do produce alcohol, or rather the microbes in their gut do. Under extreme conditions it’s even enough to register on blood alcohol tests. However I doubt if two bananas would produce an ounce of alcohol even if they were fermented under ideal conditions. They sure couldn’t produce that much in the gut, which is far from ideal. > [@](#): > > Measurable amounts of ethanol are normally formed in the gastrointestinal tract… > During recent years it has become evident that the colonic microbes take part in ethanol metabolism not only by fermenting sugars to ethanol, but also by oxidizing exogenous ethanol to acetaldehyde (Jokelainen, 1997; Salaspuro, 1996, 1997). > … > Alcohol dehydrogenase is abundant in the liver and its physiological role has been postulated to be the degradation of the low levels of alcohol produced by microbial fermentation in the gut. > … > > Conditions associated with bacterial overgrowth producing markedly elevated endogenous ethanol levels detected even in the blood indicate intestinal microbial-derived ethanol production in humans. [ethesis.helsinki.fi/julkaisut/laa/](http://ethesis.helsinki.fi/julkaisut/laa/) kliin/vk/tillonen/ethanola.pdf ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-produce-alcohol-in-our-body/324533/4 "2005-10-03T13:24:02Z")
“Oooohh! There is a tiny, little, still in _each_ of us. What a warm & loving thought!”—Homer, or at least it oughtta be. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-produce-alcohol-in-our-body/324533/5 "2005-10-03T13:43:03Z")
Our bodies producing alcohol? Impossible! At least according to my mother, a notable teetotaler. Her theory was that since alcohol was bad for you, and God said your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost [(1 Cor. 6:19)](http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/1cor/6.html), and you would not defile a temple, therefore you should not drink. And therefore your body couldn’t produce any alcohol either, since God wouldn’t violate his own rules. When confronted with the scientific possibility, she answered with authority, “Fiddlesticks.” Hey, it’s got about as much logic as Intelligent Design. 🙂