Does Sugar in Alcohol Spike Insulin?
Diabetes management includes keeping your blood sugar level within a healthy range. Alcohol can affect your body shortly after you consume it and for the next eight to 12 hours after you drink it. A big problem with drinking alcohol is that the symptoms of hypoglycemia and too much alcohol are very similar, so it can be hard to establish why you feel the way you do after drinking. It’s imperative that you take extra precautions when drinking alcohol if you are diabetic.
Insulin
If you’re a diabetic then you may have to take medication, either a pill or an injection, to help lower your blood sugar level. Most diabetics have a high blood sugar level, but when you take insulin, it helps lower your blood sugar level and bring it within a healthy range. Your glucose level can change depending on whether you’ve eaten, what you’ve eaten and what you’ve had to drink.
Effect of Alcohol
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When you drink alcohol, it lowers your glucose level, according to the American Diabetes Association, which can lead to hypoglycemia 1. Hypoglycemia is low blood sugar. If you want to drink alcohol, you have to check your blood sugar level, or glucose level, to make sure it’s within a normal range. The normal glucose range established by the ADA is between 100 and 140 mg/dL. If your glucose level is below the normal range, eat something sweet, such as a cookie or a piece of candy, to raise it. Once you get your glucose level within a healthy range, you can consume some alcohol, but you still have to be cautious because drinking too much can dramatically drop your glucose level. Drink only small amounts and check your glucose level frequently to ensure you do not become hypoglycemic.
- When you drink alcohol, it lowers your glucose level, according to the American Diabetes Association, which can lead to hypoglycemia 1.
- If you want to drink alcohol, you have to check your blood sugar level, or glucose level, to make sure it’s within a normal range.
Hypoglycemia Symptoms
Symptoms of hypoglycemia include dizziness, disorientation and sleepiness; however, these can also be side effects of drinking too much alcohol. This is why it’s so important to actually check your glucose level, rather than rely on how you feel to tell whether your glucose levels are fine. Other symptoms include:
- seizures
- double or blurred vision
- loss of consciousness
- anxiety
- sweating
- hunger
- tremor
- heart palpitations
You may also experience confusion, or the inability to complete tasks that you would normally do.
Considerations
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The ADA recommends that women limit their alcohol intake to one or fewer alcoholic beverages per day. One alcoholic drink is a 12-oz. beer, a 5-oz. glass of wine or 1 ½ oz. of vodka, gin or whiskey. Men should limit their alcohol consumption to having two or fewer drinks per day. If you drink a few times per week, let your doctor know. This can play a factor in the amount and type of diabetes medication he prescribes to help control your diabetes.
- The ADA recommends that women limit their alcohol intake to one or fewer alcoholic beverages per day.
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References
- American Diabetes Association: Alcohol
- Drugs.com; Insulin Information; August 2011
- Gepner Y, Golan R, Harman-Boehm I, et al. Effects of initiating moderate alcohol intake on cardiometabolic risk in adults with type 2 diabetes. Ann Intern Med. 2015;163(8):569. doi:10.7326/m14-1650
- Lindtner C, Scherer T, Zielinski E, et al. Binge drinking induces whole-body insulin resistance by impairing hypothalamic insulin action. Sci Transl Med. 2013;5(170):170ra14. doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.3005123
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture. 2015 – 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Appendix 9: Alcohol. Eighth Edition. December 2015.
- Richardson T, Weiss M, Thomas P, Kerr D. Day after the night before: influence of evening alcohol on risk of hypoglycemia in patients with type 1 diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2005;28(7):1801-2. doi:10.2337/diacare.28.7.1801
- McCulloch, DK, Nathan, DM, Mulder, JE. Patient education: Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) in diabetes mellitus (Beyond the Basics). UpToDate. Updated Sept. 27, 2019.
- Kim SJ, Kim DJ. Alcoholism and diabetes mellitus. Diabetes Metab J. Apr 17, 2012;36(2):108-115. doi:10.4093/dmj.2012.36.2.108
- American Diabetes Association. 6. Glycemic targets: Standards of medical care in diabetes-2020. Diabetes Care. 2020;43(Suppl 1):S66-S76. doi:10.2337/dc20-S006
- Knott C, Bell S, Britton A. Alcohol consumption and the risk of type 2 diabetes: A systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of more than 1.9 million individuals from 38 observational studies. Diabetes Care. 2015;38(9):1804-1812. doi:10.2337/dc15-0710
Writer Bio
Derek Buckner has been writing professionally since 2005, specializing in diet, nutrition and general health. He has been published in "Today's Dietitian," "Food Essentials" and "Eating Well Magazine," among others. Buckner is a registered dietitian and holds a Bachelor of Science in nutrition and food science from Drexel University.