Diabetes And Alcohol

You've counted carbs, cut out candy, and even conquered the exchange system to get a dietary handle on your diabetes, but you'll be darned if you're going to give up what may seem like one of the few pleasures you have left—drinking. Whether it be green beer at the bar on St. Patrick's day, a champagne toast at your daughter's wedding, or a glass of wine at dinner with friends, alcohol may be the hardest "food" for people with diabetes to manage because social drinking is such a pervasive part of our society.

So is drinking acceptable if you have diabetes? The answer is yes, in moderation, providing that you take the proper precautions. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) asserts that alcohol can be incorporated into a diet plan, provided that blood sugar control is already well established and other conditions that aren't compatible with alcohol consumption (such as pregnancy or certain diabetic complications) don't exist.

How It Works

When you drink, your liver decreases its ability to release glucose so that it can instead clean the alcohol from your blood. Because glucose production is shut down, hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) becomes a risk for people with diabetes, particularly if you drink on an empty stomach or shortly after taking insulin or glucose-lowering oral medications. And because it takes two hours for just one ounce of alcohol to metabolize and leave your system, the risk continues long after you've emptied your glass.

A Two-Drink Maximum

For individuals with well-controlled diabetes, alcohol intake should follow the same guidelines the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has established for the general population. This means a maximum of two drinks per day for men and one drink daily for women. (A higher alcohol intake is allowed for most men because women have a lower body water content then men and also metabolize alcohol more slowly.) In addition, due to physiological changes such as loss of lean body mass that occur as the body ages, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism recommends that anyone over age 65 should not consume more than one alcoholic drink daily.

One drink is defined as:

• 12 ounces of regular beer (150 calories)
• 5 ounces of wine (100 calories)
• 1.5 ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits (100 calories)
  
  [One drink equals 2 fat exchanges; regular beer is an additional 1 starch exchange.]
  
  Alcohol has no nutritional value.

Staying Safe When Drinking Alcohol

SOURCES

1 - American Diabetes Association. Alcohol. (Accessed 2/19/08).

Reviewed by Francine Kaufman, MD. 4/08