Alcohol Consumption and How It Can Affect Diabetes

Alcohol is a part of being sociable for many people, both diabetics, and non-diabetics alike. A lot of people enjoy a beer, glass of wine, or other beverages with a meal.

A serving of a beverage is about a 12 ounce beer, 5 ounces of wine, or else 1-1/2 ounces of distilled spirits such as gin, types of whiskey, or rum. These serving sizes contain around 100-200 calories.

These beverages are not broken down in the digestive system the way food is. The mucous lining of the stomach is the way which alcohol enters the bloodstream. From there, it will get into every cell of the body. How these beverages affect the brain is usually determined by the amount you consume, as well as by your body's metabolic rate and body composition. Moderate consumption of these beverages do have some potential health benefits. The big one for blood glucose, is that it can increase your insulin sensitivity, which in effect, will lower your blood sugars. It also lowers the risk of coronary heart disease.

On the very negative side though, diabetes and alcoholic beverages together can seriously hurt you. For one thing, when you are taking a number of oral anti-diabetic pills, strong beverages can have a serious hypoglycemic effect; lasting for many hours afterwords. These drinks can actually worsen some complications that you might already be having, such as a toxic effect on your nerves for instance. Neuropathy pain can increase with consumption of these beverages, not to mention other things such as eye disease, hypertension, and increasing triglyceride levels. If an alcoholic beverage has many carbohydrates in it, it can on the other hand, cause high sugar levels instead of too low. This happens in mixed drinks and sweet wines that have a higher number of sugars and carbohydrates. Be aware of hypoglycemia at all times when drinking.