Author: John Carter

Consequences of Alcohol Use in Diabetics PMC

Alcohol consumption can interfere with blood sugar as well as the hormones needed to maintain healthy blood sugar levels. People who frequently consume a lot of alcohol can wipe out their energy storage in a few hours. You may wonder if drinking alcohol is safe for people with diabetes.

1. Because even moderate alcohol consumption can adversely many aspects of health, the negatives seem to outweigh the positives.
2. Because insulin is a key metabolic hormone, insulin deficiency leads to major impairment of the body’s regulation of carbohydrate, lipid, and protein metabolism.
3. If someone with diabetes chooses to drink alcohol, the ADA recommends limiting consumption to a moderate intake.
4. Elevated levels of those compounds can cause nausea, vomiting, impaired mental functioning, coma, and even death.

So, if you have 2 drinks, you double that time to 2 to 3 hours that you are at risk for low blood sugar. The more alcohol consumed, the bigger the risk for serious low blood sugar. Within a few minutes of drinking alcohol, and for up to 12 hours afterward, alcohol can cause your blood glucose level to drop. After consuming alcohol, always check your blood glucose level to make sure it is in the safe zone.

Can people with diabetes drink alcohol?

The percentage of the population with diabetes increases according to age, reaching 26.8% in adults aged 65 and older. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one standard drink in the United States is equal to 14 grams (g) (0.6 ounces [oz]) of pure alcohol. They should also keep a closer watch on their blood sugar so they can quickly react if levels fall too low.

Conversely, long-term alcohol ingestion in diabetics who are not adequately nourished can lead to dangerously low blood sugar levels. Heavy drinking, particularly in diabetics, also can cause the accumulation of certain acids in the blood that may result in severe health consequences. Finally, alcohol consumption can worsen diabetes-related medical complications, such as disturbances in fat metabolism, nerve damage, and eye disease. The mechanisms underlying the development of alcoholic ketoacidosis are complex.

Given that drinking can make you lose track of what you’re eating, calories (and pounds) can add up quickly. Being tipsy has another downside, making it easy to mix up your medications or to forget to take them entirely. 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. And if you often have hypoglycemia unawareness, a condition in which you don’t recognize you’re going low, drinking becomes especially dicey.

Other problems related to alcohol and diabetes

Alcohol can cause blood glucose levels to rise or fall, depending on how much you drink. Some diabetes pills (including sulfonylureas and meglitinides) also lower blood glucose levels by stimulating the pancreas to make more insulin. Combining the blood-sugar-lowering effects of the medication with alcohol can lead to hypoglycemia or “insulin shock,” which is a medical emergency. Type 2 diabetes, which in most cases develops in people over age 40, has a somewhat different pathophysiology than type 1. People with type 2 continue to produce insulin in early disease stages; however, their bodies do not respond adequately to the hormone (i.e., the patients are resistant to insulin’s effects).

When it is busy doing this, it does not release stored carbohydrates to maintain blood sugar, meaning that blood sugar levels can drop to dangerous levels. When people with type 2 diabetes drink alcohol, it comes with risks. However, it does not mean people with type 2 diabetes cannot drink alcohol. The risks depend on how much alcohol a person consumes, as well as the type.

The two most common forms of diabetes are type 1 and type 2 diabetes, with type 2 diabetes accounting for at least 90 percent of all cases. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease—that is, a disease in which the body’s immune system attacks and destroys not only foreign molecules or organisms but also some of the body’s own cells. In most patients, the disease develops before age 40, primarily during childhood or adolescence. In those patients, the immune system attacks certain cells of the pancreas, called beta cells.

But if you do have diabetes, drinking safely involves more planning. Understand how your medications work and how alcohol can affect them. Make sure you are drinking with food and that you can check your blood sugar levels before, during, and after drinking and eating. Glycogen is a large molecule that consists of numerous glucose molecules and serves as a storage form of glucose in the tissues, particularly the liver.

Alcohol’s Effects on Complications of Diabetes

Generally, the glycogen supply is depleted after 1 or 2 days of fasting. Thus, a person who has been drinking alcohol and not eating for 1 or more days has exhausted his or her glycogen supply. Insulin primarily serves to lower blood sugar levels by promoting the uptake of sugar (i.e., glucose) in the muscles and fat (i.e., adipose) tissue as well as the conversion of glucose into its storage form, glycogen.

Alcohol interacts with diabetes medications

Heavy alcohol consumption (i.e., 200 grams of pure alcohol, or approximately 16 standard drinks, per day) can cause ketoacidosis in both diabetics and nondiabetics (Wrenn et al. 1991). People who consume those high amounts of alcohol typically have been drinking and not eating for days and/or have vomited or developed other illnesses from drinking. Cardiovascular disease continues to be one of the leading causes of death among all Americans and is the leading cause of death in people with type 2 diabetes (Bierman 1992). The relationship of alcohol consumption to cardiovascular disease in diabetic people has not been well evaluated.

However, the organization recommends that females with diabetes limit their consumption to one drink per day and males limit their consumption to two drinks per day. The ADA does not forbid a person with diabetes from consuming alcohol, but they do not advise it either. If someone with diabetes chooses to drink alcohol, the ADA recommends limiting consumption to a moderate intake. This translates to one drink per day for females and up to two per day for males. Overall, alcohol consumption leads to less predictable blood sugar levels, and this can be a risk.

When you have alcohol, it may take some time to figure out the foods that work best for you. The number of carbohydrates needed to prevent highs and lows depends on your blood sugar level when you start drinking, your meal plan, and your medication. Most diabetes medications work to lower your blood sugar (glucose) levels — and they’re particularly good at the job. Alcohol does the same thing, especially when consumed in larger quantities. If you have diabetes, drinking alcohol may cause your blood sugar to either rise or fall. 1The prefix “hyper-” always indicates higher than normal levels of a substance, whereas the prefix “hypo-” indicates lower than normal levels.