Clear liquid diets consist of transparent beverages -- water, broth, herbal tea, diluted fruit juice, popsicles, gelatin, sports drinks, lemon-lime or grapefruit sodas and ginger ale. Some doctors also allow coffee and caffeinated tea. Technically, white or rose wine are liquids you can see through, but that does not automatically make wine a prudent choice while on a clear liquid diet.
Wine on an Empty Stomach
A clear liquid diet provides essential fluids and gives your digestive system a rest by keeping your stomach essentially empty. Drinking on an empty stomach makes you intoxicated faster. Dr. Harris B. Stratyner, notes in a December 6, 2005 article in the "New York Times" that the body's metabolic processes are the reason for eschewing alcohol during a liquid diet. After drinking, alcohol immediately breaks down in the body and some is soaked up into the bloodstream. Food in the stomach, particularly protein, fats and carbs, delays the absorption process and the rise in blood-alcohol levels.
Anticoagulating Properties of Wine
If you are on a clear liquid diet as part of preparation for surgery, you probably want to postpone that glass of wine until after the procedure. Often, anticoagulants, such as warfarin or heparin, are administered to patients during surgery. Wine or other forms of alcohol increase the effect of the anticoagulant, raising the risk of bleeding. Aside from bleeding, other dangerous side effects of combining alcohol and anticoagulants include possible liver damage and gastritis.
Wine and Anesthesia
A pre-op clear liquid diet does not contain wine because of another aspect of surgery -- anesthesia. Administering general anesthesia to an alcohol-free patient is safer because alcohol consumption can either increase or decrease the effects of the drugs and makes it harder for the anesthesiologist to gauge correct dosages. Alcohol consumption before an operation also makes the patient more vulnerable to hypoglycemia and hypothermia.
Wine and Weight Loss Surgery
Bariatric surgeons do not recommend drinking wine and hard liquor during the clear liquid diet phase following gastric bypass and other weight-loss procedures because of how the digestive system works after having part of the stomach removed and the stomach and intestines rearranged. Following gastric bypass, you do not metabolize alcohol the way you did pre-surgery, since most of the alcohol absorption post surgery occurs in the small intestines; wine and other alcohol passes through the system much faster. With gastric bypass patients, the sugar and carbohydrates in alcoholic beverages can overload the body and cause what is known as "dumping syndrome," the sudden onset of diarrhea and vomiting.
References
- Maine General Hospital.org: What You Should Know: Colonoscopy
- "New York Times"; The Claim: Never Drink on an Empty Stomach; Dec. 6, 2005
- Johns Hopkins Medicine: Anticoagulants
- Merck Manuals Online Medical Library; Surgery; Feb. 2009
- Bariatric Surgery Source.com: 5 Long-Term Success Factors & 12 Tips to Stay on Track
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