I have not been following this debate, so I'm not sure where or to
which argument I'm lending support with the following comments, but
I saw the question, and thought I'd try to answer a little bit .....

someone said:
> > thinking that sugar and starch are turned to alcohol in the gut
> >really comes from outer left field;

someone else answered:
> I have seen anecdotal accounts of this, nevertheless.
> Maybe a gastroenterologist would care to comment: is there
> indeed a spot in the gut where yeasts do live anaerobically,
> produce ethanol and possibly have it absorbed?

It is my understanding that glucose can, in fact, "turn into"
alcohol, when
it is incompletely burned, yielding two larger molecules - alcohol
and lactic acid - rather than single carbon and hydrogen atoms.

Furthermore, in most of us ("normal" digestion?), 1/2 to 1 ounce of
alcohol is produced every day as a normal by-product of the
metabolism of a number of the vast
assortment of microbes living in the gut.  If things are "working"
properly, the liver normally breaks this down further (thus
"detoxifying" it).

I use the word detoxifying, since it is well recognized that in
_large_ amounts (and maybe that is what this discussion is about)
alcohol is problematic ("toxic") - interfering with the action of
several important classes of enzymes.

In those of us whose ratios of intestinal flora have been thrown off
balance, it is easy to see how there might be higher levels of
alcohol than should be present. (There are some interesting and
funny recorded cases of non-drinkers acting "drunk," and when tested
showing mysteriously high levels of alcohol in the blood). Too many
antibiotics, poor eating habits, heredity, leaky gut, and many other
factors of our modern lifestyle, might contribute to a situation
where you could even say you've got your own home-grown "moonshine"
operation in your gut.

Not sure if this is what you were looking for, but I hope it helps
some.

Love Liza
--
[log in to unmask] (Liza May)