Alcoholic drinks, including beer, affect blood glucose in everyone, but if you are diabetic, their effects can be life-threatening. This does not mean that, as a diabetic, you can never have another alcoholic drink. It does mean you need to learn about alcohol's effect on your condition and take precautions to safely enjoy a drink with friends.
Glucose and Your Body
The pancreas and liver are the two organs most responsible for maintaining glucose levels in your blood. Glucose -- blood sugar -- is needed for energy. Excess glucose from digestion of carbohydrates is stored primarily in the liver as glycogen. When blood levels drop, the pancreas releases two hormones, glucagon and insulin. Glucagon causes the liver to process glycogen, releasing glucose. Insulin helps glucose enter your cells or helps convert the glucose to fat, another way your body stores energy.
Alcohol and Hypoglycemia
Hypoglycemia, low blood sugar, is a serious concern for diabetics. Severe hypoglycemia is life-threatening and constitutes an emergency. When you drink beer or any alcoholic drink, it goes immediately into your bloodstream and from there to your liver, where it is broken down. It takes your liver approximately two hours to break down the alcohol in one beer. While the liver is occupied with breaking down alcohol, it cannot release glucose into your blood, causing your blood sugar to drop. If you take oral diabetes medications, the risk of hypoglycemia occurring when drinking alcohol is increased.
Alcohol and Hyperglycemia
While hypoglycemia can be the more immediate emergency, alcohol can sometimes contribute to raising blood sugar above the normal range. Many drinks, including regular beer, contain starches or sugar. When drinking beer, it's safest to stick with light beer. While you should eat before or while drinking to avoid hypoglycemia, alcohol consumption can cause you to overindulge in food, which can raise glucose levels. Beer especially seems to go with snacking on pizza, hot wings, pretzels, chips and the like, all of which can wreak havoc on your glucose control and on your long-term health.
Safe Drinking for Diabetics
Signs of hypoglycemia, such as slurred speech and disorientation, are the same as the signs of alcohol intoxication. Unless your drinking companions know what to look for, they may not realize there's an emergency until it's too late. Tell them ahead of time that you are diabetic and what to watch for. To minimize the risk of hypoglycemia, eat before or during your drinking. Do a finger stick to check your sugar level before your first drink. Because alcohol can result in hypoglycemia for eight to 12 hours after drinking, check your glucose again before going to bed to verify it's safely between 100 to 140 mg/dL. Finally, limit your drinking to no more than one drink daily for women and two for men.
