It Wears On Your Entire Body
Regular drinking is not only going to make your blood sugars more difficult to control, its going to wear on your liver and your kidneys, both of which are already under greater stress if your blood sugars are higher than ideal.
If you already have diagnosed retinopathy in your eyes, regular drinking can worsen the health of the nerves and blood vessels in your eyes.
The long-term effects of regular alcohol consumption are well documented, but for people with diabetes, anything wears on us more noticeably because our body is already experiencing higher levels of inflammation along with blood vessel and nerve damage due to non-diabetic blood sugar levels.
The American Diabetes Association recommends that people living with diabetes follow the general guidelines for alcohol consumption:
- Men: No more than 2 drinks per day on average
- Women: No more than 1 drink per day on average
Emergency Glucagon Treatment Might Not Work If
Remember that tidbit about how alcohol interferes with your livers normal release of glycogen? If you have consumed a lot of alcohol and youre experiencing a severe low blood sugar, your emergency glucagon treatment might not be effective because it relies on your liver!
Emergency glucagon kits work because glucagon is a hormone that tells your liver to release a large amount of stored glycogen. If your liver is overwhelmed with processing the alcohol in your system, it isnt going to respond normally to the presence of emergency glucagon.
This is another reason why its important as a person with diabetes to be very mindful of how much alcohol you consume.
Things You Should Know About Wine And Diabetes
People with type 2 diabetes have been found to be 2-4 times more likely to suffer from heart disease when compared to people who do not have diabetes, according to the American Heart Disease, an organization that studies diabetes and its complications.
There is some evidence that, when a person with diabetes drinks a moderate amount of red wine per day, they could decrease their chances of heart disease. Other evidence indicates that no amount of alcohol should be taken in by diabetics.
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Can Diabetics Drink Wine Safely
As you are probably aware, small amounts of alcohol may cause your blood sugar to rise but excess alcohol can actually decrease your blood sugar level causing it to drop into dangerous levels, especially if you suffer from type 1 diabetes.
So, the recommendation is to check blood sugar before you drink, while you drink, and monitor it for up to 24 hours after drinking. If drinking wine makes you feel dizzy or weak, stop drinking right away.
The best recipe lies in moderation. Two glasses of wine are sufficient for your condition. Plus, for diabetics, it is recommended to always eat while you drink.
Which wine you drink matters as well. Some wines give you a headache while others can seriously increase the levels of sugar in your blood. Thats why it is important to read the labels and choose those types that are more suitable for your health condition.
Learn more about sulphite free wine and how sulphites can affect your possible hangover.
The Secret’s In The Sugar: Lower
And at the end of the study? “We found that a glass of red wine with dinner can improve the cardiovascular health of people with Type 2 diabetes,” Shai says.
In particular, Shai found that compared to people who drank mineral water with dinner, the wine drinkers both those who drank white and red benefited from improvements in blood sugar control.
And the red wine drinkers got an additional benefit: They saw improvements in their levels of good cholesterol.
The effects are not huge, but physician Christopher Wilcox of Georgetown University Medical Center says they could be significant.
“One glass of alcohol per day had these admittedly modest but worthwhile benefits,” he says.
There’s been a lot of interest in the idea that specific compounds in red wine may help protect against heart disease. And this finding in which red wine improved cholesterol adds a bit more evidence.
But Wilcox says this study also suggests that when it comes to blood sugar levels, the type of alcohol may not matter much.
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Planning Your Night Out
How to avoid the increased risk of hypoglycemia
Whether it causes a hangover or not, drinking alcohol in excess does increase the risk of hypoglycemia. When you drink, your liver puts everything else on pause to break down and remove the alcohol. This means that it cant do the other jobs it normally would, like releasing stored glucose when your blood glucose levels fall. This doesnt mean that individuals with type 1 diabetes cant drink, it just means there are some extra considerations to keep in mind while drinking with T1D. Here are a few pointers:
A night out should be fun! But, you do need to plan ahead a bit. You can talk to your care team about how your routine might be modified for drinking, You can also talk to your friends about how they can best support you on a night out. If you take the time to prepare, you can enjoy your entire drinking experience, rather than suffering through parts of it.
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Diabetes And Alcohol Consumption Dos And Don’ts
People with diabetes who drink should follow these alcohol consumption guidelines:
- Do not drink more than two drinks of alcohol in a one-day period if you are a man, or one drink if you are a woman. .
- Drink alcohol only with food.
- Drink slowly.
- Avoid “sugary” mixed drinks, sweet wines, or cordials.
- Mix liquor with water, club soda, or diet soft drinks.
- Always wear a medical alert piece of jewelry that says you have diabetes.
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Red Wine Alcohol And Blood Pressure In Healthy Males
One study that sheds light on the paradox involved 25 middle-aged men who were slightly overweight but otherwise healthy, with normal blood pressures, cholesterol and glucose levels. Each volunteer was asked to drink either half a bottle of red wine , or 375ml de-alcoholized red wine, or 375ml water with a light meal on three occasions, to compare the effects.
Their blood pressures were recorded over the following 24 hour periods with an ambulatory monitor. This showed their blood pressure fell by an average of 4.7/3.9 mmHg during the first four hours after drinking red wine, compared with the alcohol-free wine or water. During the following 24 hours after drinking red wine, their blood pressures were also lower, overall, by an average of 2.1/1.4 mmHg. However, during the last 4 hours, their systolic blood pressure increased significantly by 1.8 mmHg.
This initial fall and subsequent rise in blood pressure appeared to be linked with their levels of a powerful blood vessel constrictor called 20-HETE . Levels of 20-HETE fell in the 2 hours after drinking all the beverages but was then relatively higher 24 hours after drinking red wine. As this substance causes arteries to constrict, it could help to explain why long-term drinking is associated with an elevated blood pressure.
However, this study was in people with normal blood pressure control, and those with high blood pressure appear to respond differently.
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Talk To The People Drinking With You About Your Diabetes
Dont drink alone! Carry diabetes identification when you go out drinking and make sure you have friends who know about the risks of drinking with diabetes. Emphasize the fact that a hypo might look like you are drunk. Show them the hypoglycemia handout on this page before going out so that they know how to help you.
Drinking Wine With Dinner Was Associated With A Reduction In Type 2 Diabetes Risk
During the nearly 10.9-year follow-up period, the authors found the following results:
- 8,598 of the adults in the study developed type 2 diabetes. Drinking alcohol with meals was associated with a 14 percent lower risk of type 2 diabetes compared with consuming alcohol without eating food.
- The potential benefit of moderate drinking on type 2 diabetes risk was evident only among the people who drank alcohol during meals, although the specific time of meals was not reported.
- While a higher amount of wine intake was associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, a higher amount of beer or liquor consumption was associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes.
These findings should be interpreted with some caution, says John Buse, MD, PhD, chief of the division of endocrinology at UNC Medicine in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, who was not involved with the research. Just because two behaviors are linked in a population, it does not mean that one behavior causes the outcome, he says.
The full study has not yet been published, and based on the available abstract, its difficult to know if the authors controlled for many of the variables that could impact the risk for developing type 2 diabetes, says Dr. Buse.
The authors also acknowledge that the makeup of the participants is a limitation of the study since almost all were white adults of European descent, its unknown whether the findings can be generalized to other populations.
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Alcohol Can Cause A Drop In Your Blood Sugar
Some studies have shown that adults with diabetes who have a moderate alcohol intake may see a slight improvement in their insulin sensitivity. In most cases, however, drinking alcohol in excess can cause an unhealthy drop in blood sugar.
This is due to one of your liver’s primary jobsmanufacturing and releasing glucose into the bloodstream to help with blood sugar balance. “Drinking alcohol disrupts this process and your liver prioritizes processing the alcohol instead , and this can lead to low blood sugar,” says registered dietitian nutritionist Vandana Sheth, RDN, CDCES, a spokesperson for the Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e
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You’ve probably experienced low blood sugar at some point. When your blood sugar is too low, your cells don’t have adequate energy. You may feel weak, hungry, jittery, or you may have a headache. “If you are taking diabetes medications like insulin or a blood sugar lowering-drug such as sulfonylureas, your blood sugar can go even lower,” says Sheth.
Low blood sugar levels can cause the body to release epinephrine, the so-called “fight-or-flight hormone,” that triggers rapid heart rate, sweating, a shaky feeling, and anxiety. It the drop continues, and your liver doesn’t pump glucose into your bloodstream to fuel your brain, you can experience confusion, sleepiness, slurred speech, and even seizures. Death, though rare, is a possibility, too.
Managing Alcohol If You Have Diabetes
Drinking can make it more difficult to keep your blood sugar at a healthy level.
Alcohol lowers your blood sugar but at the same time you might also be more inclined to snack.
You may be careless about counting carbs and checking your blood sugar when you are drinking.
Staying within the weekly low-risk alcohol guidelines can help to avoid these problems.
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Alcohol Can Make It Harder To Manage Your Weight
- This is because alcohol can have a lot of calories.
For most people, this doesnt mean you cant drink alcohol. But talk to your healthcare team. They can help you work out whats right for you. This is especially important if you take medicines that can cause low blood glucose like insulin or sulphonylureas like glicazide or glipizide.
Alcohol & Your Blood Sugar
The reason alcohol can be tricky for people with diabetes is mostly because of the way it affects your liver which interferes with your livers role in managing your blood sugar!
Your liver stores extra glucose from the food you eat. This stored glucose is called glycogen. Every day, your liver helps to regulate your blood sugar level by converting stored glycogen into glucose. Your liver is releasing this stored glucose throughout every day and night to give your brain and body the fuel it needs to function. This is the same store glucose that contributes to high blood sugars during dawn phenomenon, too. And its part of why we need background / basal insulin throughout the day.
Meanwhile, when you consume alcohol, your liver sees this as a toxic poison that it needs to focus on processing to get it out of your body as quickly as possible. The more you drink, the longer this process takes.
When your liver is focused on processing and eliminating the alcohol you drink, it actually stops its other job of converting stored glycogen into glucose to regulate your BG.
Alcohol also slows down the digestion of food you just ate. This means that the insulin you may have taken for that meal is still working its way through your bloodstream while the food isnt necessarily being broken down into glucose.
And that is why drinking a lot alcohol as a person with diabetes can be dangerous especially if you take insulin or another medication that lowers blood sugar levels.
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Negative Health Effects Of Alcohol And Blood Sugar
Due to the effects alcohol can have on raising and lowering blood sugar, people with diabetes or other blood sugar issues must be careful when consuming alcohol. Even for individuals with diabetes, they could be on different medications so their body may react differently to alcohol. Your overall health plays a significant role in how your body responds to alcohol and blood sugar. Does alcohol lower blood sugar even if you are not diabetic? Yes, alcohol can still lower your blood sugar because drinking increases insulin secretion.
Due to the effect of alcohol on diabetes, women with diabetes should check their blood sugars often when consuming alcohol. After consuming a couple of drinks they may notice their blood sugar is high but as said before this initial spike can drop to dangerous levels. So they must be careful about medicating high sugar levels caused by alcohol use. It is also safe to check their blood sugar at night before going to sleep after consuming alcohol to ensure they are not hypoglycemic or entering into a period of hypoglycemia while sleeping.
Why Does Alcohol Make Blood Sugar Levels Drop
Alcohol makes your blood sugar levels drop by inhibiting the livers ability to release glucose. Alcohol also creates an initial sugar spike that makes your body process sugar at a higher rate, causing the spike in sugar to be quickly metabolized below what is normal. When these two factors are combined, it makes your blood sugar levels drop after the initial spike in sugar.
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Alcohol And Blood Sugar When You Dont Have Diabetes
So, what should you know about how alcohol affects blood sugar if you dont have diabetes? Some of the ways alcohol affects blood sugar include:
- Alcohol is high in sugar and calories, which can raise the risk of type 2 diabetes. Drinking moderately isnt likely to lead to type 2 diabetes, but excessive drinking over time can be a trigger for its development.
- If you drink alcohol, its important to factor in those sugars and calories when youre looking at your overall diet.
- Even if you dont have diabetes and drink excessively, it can cause low blood sugar because drinking increases insulin secretion, although it is unlikely these levels will get dangerously low.
What You Need To Know About Type 1 Diabetes And Alcohol
To put your first question to rest, the answer is yes. You can drink alcohol with type 1 diabetes! Of course, like anyone with or without type 1, its still important to monitor how much you have to drink. The recommended daily intake for everyone, whether they have type 1 diabetes or not is no more than two drinks per day if you are a man or one drink per day if you are a woman.
Having diabetes means that in addition to consuming responsibly, you will also need to understand the effect of alcohol on blood sugar and keep an eye on it while drinking.
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Can I Drink Alcohol If I Have Type 2 Diabetes
Moderate alcohol consumption is believed to have health benefits for some people, such as raising good cholesterol levels and lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease, but does that evidence hold up for patients with type 2 diabetes?
Research shows moderate drinking and diabetes often can safely mix. In fact, some studies show moderate drinking can have positive health effects on people with type 2 diabetes. Red wine is especially beneficial.
The important word here is moderate: Excessive alcohol drinking can increase the risk of conditions such as heart disease and metabolic syndrome. Whats more, drinking too much can be a cause of type 2 diabetes by leading to weight gain and insulin resistance.
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