7 Facts about Diabetes and Alcohol Use

Unfortunately, under the influence of alcohol, many people will fail to keep up with those general healthy living choices. They may, for example, throw caution to the wind and decide to eat sugar-laden desserts or consume many calories. Some medications are not suitable for use alongside alcohol consumption. People with diabetes should be sure to pay attention to any potential warnings. Once a person consumes it, it is rapidly absorbed by the stomach and small intestine and enters the bloodstream.

• Refined sugar is one of the most obvious ingredients that can raise blood sugar levels.
• Moderate drinking can have benefits to overall cardiovascular health.
• What’s more, when the liver breaks down alcohol, it converts it to fat, which can contribute to weight gain.
• If you’re trying to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight, drinking alcohol can make it more difficult.
• Some studies have been done that show if a person’s family has a history of substance abuse, it increases the chances that someone may have addiction in their lives.
• When you drink alcohol, your liver has to work to remove it from your blood instead of working to regulate blood sugar, or blood glucose.

This can make managing diabetes more difficult, especially if you’re trying to maintain strict blood sugar control. So, if you have diabetes, are taking several medications, and want to continue drinking alcohol, it’s important to speak with your doctor. A diabetic person should always imbibe alcoholic drinks in https://ecosoberhouse.com/ moderation; there’s no way to predict the body’s reaction to the sudden intake of sugar. Also, alcohol interferes with blood sugar levels, so it is best to control consumption to avoid or lessen risks. Chinese researchers think that light to moderate alcohol consumption might protect against type 2 diabetes.

Less Predictable Blood Sugar Levels

She completed her internal medicine residency and endocrinology fellowship through the Physician Scientist Development Program at the University of Chicago. That said, when it comes to alcohol, people with blood sugar problems should always remain cautious. The important thing to understand, though, is that this presumed benefit is just a theory. There is no research to show a definite link between drinking red wine and improved diabetes management.

Under the influence of excess glucagon, some of the free fatty acids are converted to ketone bodies and secreted into the blood, causing severe health consequences. The pancreas, which is located behind the stomach, serves two functions. The first function, which involves most of the pancreatic cells, is the production of digestive enzymes. Those enzymes are can diabetics get drunk secreted directly into the gut to ensure effective food digestion. Two of the hormones (i.e., insulin and glucagon) are potent regulators of blood sugar levels. Both hormones are produced in areas of the pancreas called the Islets of Langerhans, which, quite literally, are “islands” of hormone-producing cells in a “sea” of digestive enzyme-producing cells.

Peripheral Neuropathy

People who drink excessively, however, may not realize that they have allowed those symptoms to swing out of control. Heavy alcohol consumption can also increase brain fog, impeding the ability to think clearly. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body cannot use insulin effectively, so that blood sugar levels may rise quickly. Type 2 diabetes generally develops over the years as the body becomes more and more insulin resistant and has an increasingly more challenging time processing sugar effectively.

• Because many of the symptoms of hypoglycemia—such as slurred speech, drowsiness, confusion, or difficulty walking—are also symptoms of being drunk, it can be difficult to tell the two apart.
• Normal fasting blood sugar levels should be in the range of 70–100 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl).
• Alcohol contains a lot of calories, and those calories can quickly add up.
• Light to moderate drinking can help limit the impact of changes in insulin resistance caused by drinking.
• If you’re living with diabetes, talk to your doctor about how alcohol may impact your condition management plan, even if you only have an occasional alcoholic beverage.
• LDL cholesterol levels tend to be lower in alcoholics than in nondrinkers (Castelli et al. 1977), suggesting that chronic alcohol consumption may have a beneficial effect on cardiovascular risk.

From wine and spirits to beer and cocktails, our diabetes drink guide tells you all you need to know about mixing alcohol and diabetes. If you are controlling your diabetes and do not have other health issues, it may be okay to have a drink once in a while. Learning how alcohol affects your body can help you make the right choices. Too much alcohol can also affect your ability to know your blood sugar is low and to treat it. Drinking alcohol can make you lightheaded at first and drowsy as you drink more, both of which may be similar to the symptoms of low blood sugar. Quitting alcohol is not guaranteed to reverse diabetes, but it is likely to improve your overall health and help diabetes symptoms.

Can Alcohol Put You at Risk for Diabetes?

Two additional medications—metformin and troglitazone—are now being used to treat people with type 2 diabetes. These agents act to lower the patient’s blood sugar levels by decreasing insulin resistance rather than by increasing insulin secretion. Accordingly, these medications help control blood sugar levels without causing hypoglycemia. Insulin resistance does not immediately lead to overt diabetes, because the patient’s pancreatic beta cells initially can increase their insulin production enough to compensate for the insulin resistance. In fact, insulin-resistant people have higher than normal insulin levels (i.e., are hyperinsulinemic1). Ultimately, insulin secretion declines even further, to levels below those seen in nondiabetics (although generally still higher than those seen in type 1 diabetics).