Recent studies indicating that alcohol consumption can lower one’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes is good news for those who don’t have the disease, but it isn’t useful for those living with diabetes.

Diabetics often struggle with whether or not they can drink an alcoholic beverage. The majority of people living with diabetes are aware of how foods affect their blood-sugar levels, but they never researched whether or not drinking alcohol will affect them. Look deeper into the matter and find out how diabetics can maintain their alcohol intake while monitoring their blood sugar.

Be Cautious: You can Increase Your Risks

• Is your diabetes currently under control?
• Check with your healthcare provider in order to be sure you don’t have health problems that alcohol can worsen.
• Do you have the proper information on how alcohol can affect your diabetes?

How Alcohol Works in the Body

• Alcohol moves very quickly into the bloodstream. It’s not passed through the stomach metabolizing process like most other things.
• It is said that it only takes about 5 minutes to acquire enough alcohol in your bloodstream to measure.
• The process of metabolizing the alcohol in most people takes roughly two hours. If you drink alcohol faster than your body metabolizes it, which a lot of people do, the excess alcohol moves through your bloodstream to other parts of your body.
• Your brain is usually the first to take on the excess, which is why the struggles of staying sober exist.

Insulin and Non Insulin Dependency

If you’re on insulin, or some of the specific oral diabetes medications that stimulate the pancreas to produce more insulin, drinking alcohol can cause a dangerous low blood sugar. Your liver has to shift gears and work to remove the alcohol from your blood instead of regulating your blood sugar.

• Monitor your blood sugar before, during, and after drinking alcohol.
• Be sure to never drink alcohol on an empty stomach. Food slows down the absorption of alcohol into the blood stream.
• Don’t partake in binge drinking. This is can be very harmful on your diabetes and organs.
• Be sure to always carry along glucose tablets or another source of sugar. (Glucagon shots do not work in this case.)