Alcohol and Diabetes: Can Alcohol Use Cause Diabetes?

In fact, some evidence shows that many people with type 2 diabetes can safely enjoy drinking alcoholic beverages, and it may even bring about some benefits. Your healthcare provider can best determine what’s right for you. But if you do drink, know that not all alcoholic beverages are created equal when it comes to diabetes. In most cases, people with type 2 diabetes can drink alcohol in moderate amounts. As you may well know, living with type 2 diabetes often means cutting out or cutting back on foods and beverages that can affect sugar (glucose) levels in the blood. Talk with your doctor before drinking alcohol to make sure alcohol won’t reduce the effectiveness of your medication.

How much alcohol can I drink?

If you have one or more drinks a day, you may find that your A1C is lower than during times you weren’t drinking. But if you don’t drink regularly, this doesn’t mean you should start. After all, other aspects of moderate drinkers’ lives may be behind the link. The main function of your liver is to store glycogen, which is the stored form of glucose, so that you will have a source of glucose when you haven’t eaten. 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. For this reason, you should never drink alcohol when your blood glucose is already low.

Diabetes Teaching Center

• As an added complication, there is a substantial overlap between the feeling of tipsiness (or drunkenness) and the symptoms of hypoglycemia.
• These are all symptoms of a dangerous condition called lactic acidosis.
• By Barbie Cervoni, RDCervoni is a New York-based registered dietitian and certified diabetes care and education specialist.
• This is a greater concern for people with type 1 diabetes, but those with type 2 diabetes should also consider the risk of low blood sugar.
• Being newly diagnosed with diabetes can be confusing and overwhelming.

Read this to learn more about the signs of hyperglycemia and how to treat it. As a service to our readers, University Health News offers a vast archive of free digital content. Please note the date published or last update on all articles. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician. Beyond Type 1 is the largest diabetes org online, funding advocacy, education and cure research.

• If you’re having frequent trouble in managing your BGLs, you should consider if it’s safe for you to drink alcohol.
• Excess weight can contribute to the onset of type 2 diabetes, and it can make the condition worse.
• Have a snack or meal as you sip or immediately beforehand to lower the risk of hypoglycemia.
• This is why it’s especially important for your friends and family to know the risks of drinking alcohol with diabetes and the signs of low blood sugar.
• That can make it especially difficult to get a grip on how many carbs and calories you’re consuming.
• 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.
• Plan to monitor your blood sugar more often when you’re drinking than you would normally.

What is Diabetes?

Some energy drinks may have more caffeine than a cup of coffee. “Caffeine can impact sleep, increase your heart rate, and potentially raise your blood pressure,” Massey said. Too much caffeine can also increase feelings of anxiety, she explained. That’s why alcohol is often called “empty calories.” When your liver breaks down alcohol, marijuana addiction it turns the alcohol into fat. At 7 calories per gram, alcohol is nearly as calorie-dense as fat (9 calories per gram).

Moderate alcohol consumption means no more than two standard drinks a day for men and no more than one standard drink a day for women. A standard drink equates to 12 ounces of beer, 8 to 9 ounces of malt liquor, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits. If you have diabetes, you’ve probably been advised to watch your consumption of sugary soft drinks, coffees laden with flavored syrups, and sweet teas. All the sugar in those beverages can send your blood sugar skyrocketing. After all, many alcoholic beverages contain carbohydrates, which your body breaks down into sugar.

Eat a small snack, such as half a sandwich or an apple with peanut butter, if your blood sugar is low. If you have a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) or an insulin pump, make sure it’s working properly and has sufficiently charged batteries. If you don’t have a CGM, you’ll need to test your glucose manually when you’ll be drinking.

After you drink alcohol, your blood sugar levels can drop up to 24 hours later. Check your blood sugar before and while you’re drinking and then again before you go to bed. For example, studies have shown that for people who have type 2 diabetes, occasionally drinking alcohol may slightly reduce glucose levels. Unlike protein, fat, or carbohydrate, alcohol doesn’t require insulin to provide energy to the body. The exception is sweet dessert wines, which pack 14 grams of carb in a tiny three-and-a-half-ounce glass. A daily cocktail or two may improve blood glucose (blood sugar) management and insulin sensitivity.

• Each person will have a slightly different reaction to alcoholic drinks so it’s well worth using blood tests to check how your body responds to it.
• Wine and several beers are sweet in taste, and they can raise blood sugar levels.
• When energy drinks contain added sugar, they become a quick-acting carbohydrate that can cause your blood sugar to spike if you live with T2D.
• Talk to one of our knowledgeable admissions navigators, who can answer your questions, explain your options, and get you started on your path to recovery.

With all the focus on carbs, it’s easy to forget that alcohol also has calories. 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. Take a look at the numbers and you’ll find that only moderate drinkers have less cardiovascular disease. Those on the opposite ends of the spectrum—people that drink heavily and those that don’t—have a greater risk.

The hazards are greater for people who take medications that are known to cause hypoglycemia, especially insulin and sulfonylureas. Both of the diseases are dangerous, and emergency knocks at the door when such a condition arrives. It is prescribed to diabetic people that they should choose to eat healthy food instead of getting drunk.