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Impact of Alcohol

Q How does alcohol affect blood glucose? It lowers blood glucose levels It increases blood glucose levels

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Alcohol lowers blood glucose levels (hypoglycemia). Normally, when your blood glucose levels drop too low, the body convers stored fat to glucose. Alcohol interferes with this. If you drink alcohol, you may have a severe hypoglycemic reaction.

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Ask your doctor if you can take alcohol. If you decide to drink, remember the key is to drink moderately. Moderate drinking is defined as no more than 1 drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men. One drink is 12 ounces of regular beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits (liquor).

Tips to drinking alcohol

Alcohol can affect your blood glucose, most often causing very low blood glucose when consumed on an empty stomach. If you use certain medications or insulin, drink alcohol with food to prevent hypoglycemia
Some medications, including some diabetes medications, require limits on alcohol use
If you have health problems like pancreatitis, gastric problems, high triglyceride levels, neuropathy (nerve damage), kidney disease or certain types of heart disease, you may be advised to abstain from alcohol use
For people with diabetes, there is an added risk for hypoglycemia from alcohol. Do not drink and drive
Alcohol can affect your thought process. It's easy to overeat when you are drinking. You should be able to think clearly enough to monitor your blood glucose levels and to know what to do should they drop too low. If you are drinking, make sure to tell a friend what to do in an event of low blood glucose.

This information is a summary from the "Complete Guide to Diabetes" and is provided with the permission of the American Diabetes Association.

It is a comprehensive book and recommended by the American Diabetes Association for those people that want to learn more.

Click on the image to go to the American Diabetes Association bookstore.