Content
Doctors advise some people with diabetes to abstain from alcohol for reasons unrelated to their blood sugar. The Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) warns that individuals with diabetes may have other conditions that alcohol could affect. In addition, certain non-diabetic medications do not mix well with alcohol. It can help stabilize your blood sugar levels and reduce sober house spikes in your blood sugar. By quitting alcohol use you will also reduce your risk of obesity which will also improve your blood sugar levels. Even though alcohol can have damaging effects short- and long-term on an individual without diabetes, an individual with diabetes has to be very careful when drinking alcohol due to the effects it can have on blood sugar.
One standard drink was specified to contain 12g of ethanol, which is equivalent to 330ml of a 5-6% beer. People who go on a major alcohol binge often vomit repeatedly and stop eating. If the vomiting and starvation go on for a day or more, the liver’s normal stores of sugar (glucose) decrease. The low glucose stores combined with lack of food intake cause low blood glucose levels.
To explain this in simpler terms at lower doses, it acts as a stimulant and at higher doses, it acts as a depressant. So you may witness individuals or even yourself after consuming a couple of glasses of alcohol become talkative or have a feeling of euphoria. When you drink too much alcohol it can lead you to become drowsy, unstable on your feet, and slurring your words. Too much alcohol affects your speech, muscle coordination and vital centers of your brain. A heavy drinking binge may even cause a life-threatening coma or death. This is of particular concern when you’re taking certain medications that also depress the brain’s function.
Diabetes is a long-term health condition that affects the system in which the body turns food into energy. When the body digests food, it turns sugar into usable energy. An important part of this process is a hormone called insulin. The pancreas is responsible for making insulin, which is how glucose gets into our body’s cells. Diabetes is manageable, but if not monitored, it can lead to serious health consequences. However, alcohol is not the only substance which can lead to worsening diabetic symptoms.
Several findings concerning the involvement of chronic, heavy alcohol consumption in glucose metabolism is negatively correlated with that of insulin concentrations, in addition to the fasting insulin levels. It has been reported that chronic high doses of alcohol alone have been exhibited to be efficient in producing reversible insulin resistance [12]. High concentrations of ethanol may lead to reduced insulin binding [13] and inhibition of intracellular signalling related to that of insulin [14]. Moreover, alcohol dependence was one of the concomitant factors in subjects with impaired glucose tolerance that are diagnosed with performing standard 75 g oral glucose tolerance test. This suggests that alcohol might impair fasting and postprandial glycemic controls and thus, alcohol consumption may be a risk factor for T2DM [15]. Extensive studies using animal models of chronic alcohol intake have provided insight into the possible mechanisms, which contributes to the development of diabetes.
And if you take insulin or types of diabetes pills that stimulate insulin production, drinking alcohol can lead to even more serious low blood sugar reactions. Check with your doctor to make sure alcohol doesn’t interfere with your medications or complicate any of your medical conditions. Drinking alcohol can lead to serious low blood sugar reactions, especially if you take insulin or types of diabetes pills that stimulate the release of insulin from the pancreas.