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Beer poisoning
Last reviewed: 12.07.2025
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Despite the fact that beer, which is obtained by fermenting starch sugars in wort to form ethanol and carbon dioxide (carbon dioxide), is a low-alcohol drink, alcohol poisoning from beer is not uncommon. In addition, beer poisoning can be similar to food poisoning.
Epidemiology
Excessive alcohol consumption causes more than 4,300 deaths among underage young people each year.
Although it is illegal for anyone under 21 to purchase alcohol, people between the ages of 12 and 20 drink 11% of all alcohol consumed in the United States. More than 90% of this alcohol is consumed in the form of soft drinks, including beer.
In 2013, persons aged 12 to 21 visited approximately 119,000 emergency departments for alcohol-related injuries and other conditions.[ 1 ]
Causes beer poisoning
The main causes of alcohol poisoning from beer are associated with exceeding the limit of the so-called alcohol tolerance of the body - the totality of its functional reactions to the effects of ethanol. Many of its lovers do not even suspect the existence of a limit of alcohol tolerance and drink too much in a short time.
While the average person’s liver can only “process” 360 ml of medium- and high-strength beer (wine – 150 ml, vodka – no more than 45 ml) within one hour without negative consequences for the body.
Those who abuse alcohol, including beer, become less sensitive to it, so the doses become larger, and the liver metabolizes alcohol worse and slower. And in such cases, even small amounts of alcohol can lead to its high concentration in the blood, as a result of which the toxic effect of ethyl alcohol leads to poisoning. For more information, see - Alcohol Poisoning.
Poisoning with expired beer (with an expired shelf life and sales date) that is not associated with the effects of ethanol, poisoning with live beer (i.e. unpasteurized), as well as poisoning with draft beer (sold not in sealed containers, but on tap) are classified as foodborne toxic infections.
If the rules of sanitation and microbiological purity of production are violated, not only so-called wild yeast (fungi Saccaharomyces, Hansenula anomala, Torulopsis), which negatively affect its quality and reduce shelf life, but also opportunistic and pathogenic bacteria can get into the wort and the final product: Leuconostoc spp., Acetobacter, Enterobacter, Pectinatus, Proteus vulgaris, Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium perfringens.
Research has refuted the common belief that pathogenic microorganisms cannot survive in fermented alcoholic beverages, particularly beer. Pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica (serotype Typhimurium) and Bacillus cereus, when introduced into the wort during cooling, aeration or fermentation, remain viable at a beer storage temperature of +5-22°C. [ 2 ] E. coli and salmonella do not survive in strong beer, but they remain alive for a month in medium-strength beer at a temperature of +4°C and multiply very quickly in non-alcoholic, low-alcohol and unpasteurized beer. [ 3 ]
In addition, diatomite filters are often used to clean beer – a natural siliceous sedimentary rock which, as reported in the Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry, may contain heavy metals (lead, cadmium) and arsenic that are toxic to humans. For example, cadmium irritates the stomach, causing vomiting and diarrhea. Experts judge the presence of heavy metal ions in beer by its colloidal turbidity.
Risk factors
Beer alcohol poisoning is the result of its immoderate consumption, especially of high-strength varieties (with an ethyl alcohol content of up to 8.5-14%). The risk of such poisoning increases if a person has beer alcoholism.
And risk factors for food poisoning are associated with the consumption of poor-quality beer: produced in violation of sanitary standards, contaminated with microbes, improperly stored, sold after the expiration date of the drink.
Pathogenesis
The mechanism of development of alcohol poisoning by beer is not much different from the development of poisoning by other types of alcoholic beverages. Absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract, alcohol enters the bloodstream; drinking large amounts of alcohol leads to a rapid increase in its concentration in the blood (up to 0.08% or higher), which exceeds the body's ability (liver enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase) to break down ethanol. As a result, there is a disruption of the functions of the life-supporting centers of the cerebral cortex, which control breathing, heart rate, body temperature, the endocrine system, etc. [ 4 ]
The pathogenesis of bacterially caused beer poisoning is associated with the effect on the cells of the intestinal mucosa of exotoxins (enterotoxins) or enzymes produced by enteropathogenic or enterotoxigenic microorganisms (listed above).
Enterotoxins damage the cellular membranes of the intestinal mucosal epithelium, which – due to the leakage of sodium and water – disrupts the osmolarity of the contents of the intestinal lumen. This results in secretory diarrhea.
Symptoms beer poisoning
The first signs of alcohol poisoning from beer are dizziness and loss of coordination, general weakness, as well as pale skin and cold sweat. Even when a person stops drinking, alcohol in the stomach and intestines continues to enter the bloodstream and circulate throughout the body, causing typical symptoms: nausea and spontaneous vomiting, tremors and cramps of the limbs, hypothermia (low body temperature), dull reactions, sudden lapses into unconsciousness (followed by alcohol amnesia), mental disorders, slow breathing and heart rate. [ 5 ]
In cases of consumption of non-critical doses of low-quality beer - expired, live, draft - general weakness, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, intestinal colic, diarrhea, subfebrile temperature, in general, symptoms of food poisoning occur.
Diagnostics beer poisoning
The diagnosis of alcohol poisoning from beer is established clinically, but differential diagnostics are necessary to exclude poisoning with narcotic substances, methanol or ethylene glycol.
More detailed information in the materials:
Who to contact?
Treatment beer poisoning
Treatment of any poisoning begins with first aid to the victim. How to provide it correctly, read in the publications:
In severe cases, the ambulance team that is called sends the victim to a medical facility, where symptomatic intensive therapy for poisoning is carried out and appropriate medications are used, which are administered intravenously by infusion. [ 6 ]
In mild cases of poisoning, treatment is carried out at home: wash the stomach, take adsorbents (activated carbon, Polysorb, etc.), be sure to drink a solution of Regidron or a solution of salt with sugar (a teaspoon of each ingredient per liter of boiled water) - to replenish fluid and salts lost due to vomiting and diarrhea. More details in the publications:
Traditional medicine suggests adding potassium permanganate or baking soda to the water for washing the stomach (which makes no sense in cases of alcohol poisoning with beer). But strained green tea or tea with ginger root will complement the rehydration effect in case of food poisoning.
Herbal treatment is possible as an adjunct: nausea can be reduced by taking a decoction of lemon balm or chamomile (a tablespoon of dry raw material per 250 ml of boiling water, take half a glass three times a day); [ 7 ] a decoction of elecampane root, which is prepared in the same proportions, but taken three to four times a day, 30 ml at a time, helps eliminate enterotoxins.
Prevention
How to prevent beer poisoning? Know your limits and never drink on an empty stomach.
And the prevention of food poisoning depends on how carefully you choose beer, checking for sediment or turbidity, and also checking the expiration date (which is indicated on the label).
Forecast
Both novice and experienced beer drinkers can suffer from severe, life-threatening intoxication. The outcome of beer poisoning, that is, its prognosis, depends on many factors and, unfortunately, can be fatal.