Former Dickinson County Attorney Amy Zenor has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of public intoxication and court documents are suggesting it was carbs, not alcohol, that caused her to appear drunk.
On November 10, the Dickinson County Sheriff’s office was notified someone in the county courthouse was drunk. Zenor was arrested and the county board of supervisors accepted her resignation as county attorney a few weeks later.
According to the Iowa Capital Dispatch, Zenor is claiming she has a rare medical condition that causes someone to become intoxicated without drinking alcohol. It’s called Auto Brewery Syndrome or Gut Fermentation Syndrome and the Iowa Capital Dispatch reports an Ohio doctor says Zenor has it.
Medical studies indicate when patients with ABS eat carbohydrates, the carbs can interact with yeast in the intestines and produce ethanol. Gut Fermentation Syndrome was first diagnosed in a five year old child in 1947. Fewer than 100 cases have been diagnosed worldwide, over half of them in Japan.