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Diabetic Medicine, 29 Annals of Internal Medicine, 163Los Angeles TimesDiabetes, 63Examiner.com
Cut The Sugar Not The Taste
Just because youre trying to lower your sugar intake, doesnt mean you cant enjoy a well-deserved glass of wine now and then. Instead of giving up the unrivaled pleasure of wine, discover wines that fit your lifestyle.
While all wine contains some amount of naturally occurring sugars, not all wine is created equal. Many low-quality winemakers add sugar during the fermentation process to increase the alcohol content.
To avoid unnecessarily sweetened wines, choose small, sustainably farmed winemakers who favor traditional winemaking techniques. You may also want to choose dry wines that are lower in alcohol, such as dry rosé and brut sparkling wine. This way, you can have your wine and drink it, too.
Tips For Healthier And Safer Consumption Of Wine
If you choose to consume wine and you live with diabetes, here are some tips that can make your experience healthier, safer, and better:
- Know your blood sugar throughout the entire evening, to help prevent lows, and do not start drinking if your blood sugar is currently low. Always treat low blood sugar first
- Let other people youre drinking with know that you have diabetes and how to help you if you experience a low blood sugar
- Wear a medic alert bracelet and have an emergency contacts phone number with you
- Drink in moderation. One 5 oz glass of wine per day for women, and two 5 oz glasses of wine per day for men is what the CDC recommends
- Dont drink on an empty stomach, and eat foods that are high in both fat and protein while you drink
- Alternate every alcoholic drink with a glass of water
- Have a plan
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Tips For Drinking Safely With Type 1 Diabetes
Now that you are aware of the interaction between blood sugar and alcohol, youre ready to make a game plan. Whether it be a birthday party, a football night or something else, these tips will help you be prepared for any occasion where you may consume alcohol:
Know the signs of low and high blood sugar: Let your friends know about how alcohol impacts your body when you have type 1 diabetes, and go over the signs of hypo- and hyperglycemia. Make sure they can spot the signs of low blood sugar and know to call 911 immediately if you have trouble eating or become unresponsive. If you use a continuous glucose monitor , consider sharing your data so that your friends can help track your levels.
Dont forget to eat: Always drink alcohol on a full stomach or eat while you are drinking. Before bed, have a snack high in protein and fat. You may want to set an alarm for a few hours after you go to sleep to check your blood sugar in the middle of the night.
Adjust your insulin dosing as needed: Discuss with your doctor or endocrinologist about how different types of alcohol affect your blood sugar and consider making changes to your insulin dosing before, during and after drinking alcohol.
Plan ahead for cardio: If you anticipate that youll be dancing, running around or anything else that may raise your heart rate, you might want to prepare for a drop in blood sugar. Plan ahead by decreasing your basal insulin dose if you wear a pump, or eating extra carbohydrates.
Whats New In Research
The healthy active agent in red wine is called resveratrol. It is a chemical found in the skins of grapes that has been shown to protect against cardiovascular disease. It is also an anti-inflammatory agent, and resveratrol has actually lowered blood glucose levels in studies with diabetic rats .
As previously mentioned, a recent literature review has revealed the possibility of red wine as a complementary therapy to those who are currently being treated for type 2 diabetes .
In addition, another promising area of research has revealed that the moderate consumption of red wine throughout ones life can reduce the risk of developing diabetes. This was found to be particularly true for those who were overweight
More research in this area is continuing but this certainly is encouraging for type 2 diabetics who would like to enjoy some red wine now and again.
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Is Red Wine Good For Diabetics
Short answer: yes. Red wine is loaded with antioxidants and polyphenols , and is low in sugar which wont raise your blood sugar.
- Red wine IS the lowest sugar wine which has about 0.9 g per 175ml glass. And if you are worried about how many calories in a glass of red wine you can get, the amount is also one of the lowest.
Also, drinking a glass of wine per day can reduce the risks of heart disease if you have well-controlled type 2 diabetes, as concluded in a study about moderate alcohol intake. Benefits of drinking red wine if you have diabetes include improved post-meal blood sugar levels and improved insulin resistance. The same study also points out that components of red wine, like polyphenols, are the ones that bring all the benefits. Opt also for low alcohol wine.
Recommended Red Wine Brands For Diabetics
There are many brands of red wine that can be enjoyed by diabetics and beneficial for your health. Most table wines will be okay as far as sugar content goes but taste and price is also a factor.
We still want to enjoy our red wine and not have to break the bank! Here is list of recommended brands from those who are closely watching their sugar intake:
- Sterling Vintner’s Pinot Noir
- Vin de Pays d’Oc Syrah
- Hardy’s Shiraz
- Can red wine replace conventional treatment of Diabetes Type 2?
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Does Wine Help Or Harm People With Diabetes
With commentary from study author Meir Stampfer, MD, DrPH, professor of epidemiology and nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Doctors have long faced a paradox when advising their patients with type 2 diabetes on drinking alcohol. Moderate drinking has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, which would benefit people with diabetes who are at increased risk of the disease. Yet, people with diabetes have traditionally been advised to reduce their alcohol consumption to help better control their glucose levels.
Now preliminary results of a new study presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Prague, found that adults with diabetes may be able to safely drink in moderation and reap the heart benefits.
The study randomly assigned 224 patients with controlled type 2 diabetes to have either mineral water, white wine or red wine with dinner every night for two years. All patients were following a healthy Mediterranean diet with no calorie restrictions.
Researchers found that red-wine drinkers had a modest improvement in high-density lipoproteins , the good cholesterol, and also had improved apolipoprotein A1, a component of HDL. Those who drank red or white wine also saw modest improvements in glucose metabolism.
Drinking one 5-ounce serving of red or white wine wasnt associated with any negative effect on medication use, blood pressure or liver function tests.
Fight The Common Cold
Who hates having a cold? Its the pits, isnt it? Ill do anything to avoid having one. You can do many things that can help you to stay away from getting all the miserables that come with getting a cold. Well red wine has antioxidants that can additionally help you avoid colds. Im all for it. I know it isnt the worst sickness but why not avoid it altogether if red wine can help!
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Effects Of Alcohol On Diabetes
Here are some other ways that alcohol can affect diabetes:
- While moderate amounts of alcohol may cause blood sugar to rise, excess alcohol can actually decrease your blood sugar level — sometimes causing it to drop into dangerous levels, especially for people with type 1 diabetes.
- Beer and sweet wine contain carbohydrates and may raise blood sugar.
- Alcohol stimulates your appetite, which can cause you to overeat and may affect your blood sugar control.
- Alcoholic drinks often have a lot of calories, making it more difficult to lose excess weight.
- Alcohol may also affect your judgment or willpower, causing you to make poor food choices.
- Alcohol can interfere with the positive effects of oral diabetes medicines or insulin.
- Alcohol may increase blood pressure.
- Alcohol can cause flushing, nausea, increased heart rate, and slurred speech.
These may be confused with or mask the symptoms of low blood sugar.
Red Wine And Diabetes Health: Getting Skin In The Game
It was an unexpected pleasure to be invited to write a Perspectives in Diabetes article considering the proposition that moderate consumption of red wine provides health benefits for people with diabetes. At the outset, I want to make clear that since Perspectives in Diabetes are not review articles in the conventional sense, this one does not exhaustively analyze the effects of beer, hard liquor, or alcohol per se on health. This one is all about wine, especially red wine. This is an important point because of the intrinsic psychic influences of wine. Beer is associated with boisterous behavior at sporting events. Hard liquor is associated with serious drinking and dark moods. Wine, on the other hand, is associated with relaxation, reflection, celebration, conviviality, toasting, and a certain amount of dry humor. So, in this spirit, I will lace this article with a modicum of these wine-related characteristics.
A Persian woman pouring a Persian red wine in the ancient world . From a wall painting inside the Chehel Sotoun palace, Isfahan, Iran. Photo by Zereshk.
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Reduced Risk Of Diabetes Complications
A 2011 study in rats showed that daily red wine consumption reduced the risk of certain diabetes complications, especially nerve damage.
An additional 2013 study also confirmed this. Its important to note, however, that the antioxidant resveratrol can be found in many other foods as well.
Resveratrol is also found in peanuts, pistachios, grapes, blueberries, cranberries, dark chocolate, and cocoa, and the benefits of red wine were directly linked to the resveratrol content of the wine and not necessarily the fact that the subjects were drinking wine.
Red Wine And Type 2 Diabetes
Even though some alcoholic beverages increase blood glucose levels, research indicates that drinking red wine may actually be beneficial to those suffering from type 2 diabetes.
In a recent study out of the Annals of Internal Medicine, it was found that drinking red wine in moderation can decrease the chances of developing heart disease in those suffering from type 2 diabetes.
In this study, greater than 200 research participants were watched for up to 2 years. One group were instructed to drink a glass of red wine every day with supper, while others drank white wine and still others drank mineral water instead. All participants ate a Mediterranean-type diet that didnt restrict the intake of calories.
The study lasted 2 years. After 2 years, those who drank red wine had elevated levels of HDL cholesterol and decreased total cholesterol than were found in people who drank white wine or only drank mineral water. There were also benefits in the blood glucose level in the red wine drinking population. Researchers believed that drinking moderate amounts of this type of alcoholic beverage along with eating a healthy diet may moderately decrease the risk of heart disease.
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Diabetics And Wine Consumption
Type two diabetes is on the rise in North America and the Western diet is a factor.
Those who suffer with diabetes must be careful to watch what they consume and monitor their sugar intake and blood sugar levels.
However, red wine consumption has demonstrated many positive health effects. Does this mean type 2 diabetics can enjoy the occasional glass of red wine? The answer is YES!
Health Issues Later On In Life
Long-term, heavy drinking has been correlated with a higher risk of diabetes complications, such as metabolism disturbances and retinopathy.
It can also cause a buildup of harmful acids in the blood, and increase ones risk for certain types of cancers, heart disease, and premature death. Moderation is key!
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Drinking Wine Is Linked To A Lower Risk Of Diabetes
Drinking alcoholespecially wineevery few days may help protect against type 2 diabetes, suggests a new study published in the journal Diabetologia. People in the study who drank three to four days a week were about 30% less likely to develop diabetes than those who drank less than once a week.
This isnt the first study to find a link between drinking moderatelyhaving up to 7 drinks a week for women and up to 14 drinks a week for menand a reduced diabetes risk, compared to not drinking at all.
For the new study, researchers analyzed data from more than 70,000 healthy Danish adults who were surveyed about their health and drinking habits around 2007. They tracked them for five years to see who developed type 2 diabetes.
People who had the lowest risk for diabetes were those who drank alcohol at moderateand slightly more than moderatelevels. Men who drank 14 drinks a week had a 43% lower risk of diabetes than men who did not drink at all women who drank nine drinks a week had a 58% reduced risk.
The timing of those drinks also mattered. Drinking three to four days a week was linked to the biggest risk reduction. For women, very infrequent drinking was also associated with slightly lower diabetes rates, compared to being a lifetime abstainer.
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The results, while interesting, call for more research.
Does White Wine Help Lower Blood Sugar Levels In Diabetics
Fact Checked
The polyphenols in red wine may help prevent metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes by helping your body regulate blood-sugar levels and fat metabolism, according to a January 2011 Food and Function study 4. White wine also contains such polyphenols, but in much smaller amounts. Recommending any type of wine to help control diabetes is premature and, under certain circumstances, is risky.
If you are experiencing serious medical symptoms, seek emergency treatment immediately.
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Wine For Type 2 Diabetes
Is it true that drinking a glass of wine daily is helpful for people with type 2 diabetes? If wine really is helpful, does it matter whether you drink white or red?
Andrew Weil, M.D. | January 14, 2016
It is true that a study from Israel published in October found that drinking a glass of wine daily is beneficial for people with type 2 diabetes. The researchers reported that both triglycerides and fasting plasma glucose levels decreased significantly in patients who drank wine. The study team tested the effects of red and white wine against mineral water in 224 patients ages 45 to 75 with well-controlled type 2 diabetes. None of the patients drank alcohol before joining the study, and all of them were on a Mediterranean diet with no limitations on caloric intake.
The study participants continued drinking five ounces of red or white wine or the mineral water with dinner for two years. At that point, the researchers found that, compared with patients who drank the water or white wine, the ones who drank red wine saw an approximately 10 percent increase in their HDL cholesterol. The ratio of total cholesterol to HDL also decreased significantly in the red wine drinkers. Neither of these beneficial changes occurred in those who drank white wine.
The patients whose blood sugar improved the most were those who metabolized wine slowly, something that is genetically determined.
Andrew Weil, M.D.
Wine For Type 2 Diabetic Patients
Abstract To ensure an acceptable quality of life for Type 2 diabetic patients, the food recommendations have to be as liberal and individualized as possible. Unfortunately, disagreements exists about the consumption of different types of wine. Diabetic patients are advised by some to restrain their wine intake and to use dry wine containing little carbohydrate, while others are more liberal. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of dry and sweet wine on the glycaemic control in Type 2 diabetes. Twelve diabetic patients consumed a light meal with either 300 ml tap water 300 ml dry white wine, 300 ml sweet white wine with ethanol added or 300 ml dry white wine with glucose added. Similar glucose, insulin, and triglyceride responses were obtained in all four situations. There was a greater suppression of the free fatty acid levels in the three situations with wine as compared with water . This effect may be caused by an attenuation of the free fatty acid mobilization and esterification of free fatty acids to triglycerides induced by alcohol. Our results indicate that patients with well-controlled Type 2 diabetes can drink moderate amounts of wine with meals without risking acute deterioration of glycaemic control. Whether the wine is dry or sweet has no impact on the glycaemic control.Continue reading > >
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