Unlike protein, fat, or carbohydrate, alcohol doesn’t require insulin to provide energy to the body. The exception is sweet dessert wines, which pack 14 grams of carb in a tiny three-and-a-half-ounce glass. Despite the potential health perks of drinking alcohol, there are some cautions as well. When drinking alcohol is combined with the medications most often used to treat diabetes—particularly insulin and sulfonylureas, low blood glucose can result.

Women in the study who reported drinking eight or more alcoholic beverages per week were 33 to 51 percent more likely to develop coronary heart disease. And women who binge drink — three alcoholic beverages per day — were 68 percent more likely to develop coronary heart disease than those who drink in moderation, the research showed. The study focused on 18- to 65-year-old adults and is among the largest and most diverse studies to date examining the links between alcohol and heart disease. Heart attacks and other forms of heart disease are on the rise in younger populations in the U.S., fueling concern about worsening health outcomes. At the same time, alcohol use and binge drinking have become more common among women than in previous decades.

How much is considered one drink?

In patients with ketoacidosis, however, the liver metabolizes the incoming free fatty acids in an additional, unusual way. Under the influence of excess glucagon, some of the free fatty acids are converted to ketone bodies and secreted into the blood, causing severe health consequences. Each alcoholic beverage takes about 1-1 ½ hours to finish processing in the liver. So, if you have 2 drinks, you double that time to 2 to 3 hours that you are at risk for low blood sugar. The more alcohol consumed, the bigger the risk for serious low blood sugar.

Those researchers also reported that diabetics who consumed more than eight standard drinks per week developed peripheral neuropathy faster than did diabetics who consumed eight or fewer drinks per week. Second, diabetics who have consumed alcohol, particularly those with type 1 diabetes, experience a delayed glucose recovery from hypoglycemia. Detailed analyses demonstrated that although the glucagon and epinephrine responses to hypoglycemia were unaffected, the growth hormone and cortisol responses were reduced after alcohol consumption. Insulin primarily serves to lower blood sugar levels by promoting the uptake of sugar (i.e., glucose) in the muscles and fat (i.e., adipose) tissue as well as the conversion of glucose into its storage form, glycogen. In addition, insulin inhibits the production of more sugar molecules (i.e., gluconeogenesis) in the liver. Conversely, glucagon primarily serves to increase blood sugar levels.

Who Should Not Drink Alcohol?

As the name of these drinks implies, people typically serve them after a meal (36). However, the carb content may rise significantly if you mix vodka with tonic water — which has 32 grams of carbs per 12-ounce can — or a sugar-containing soda (27). Low carb beer is a better option than regular beer for people with diabetes who want to enjoy a cold brew now and then. 3A standard drink contains 12 grams (approximately 0.5 ounce) of pure alcohol. This amount is equal to one 12-ounce bottle of beer or wine cooler, one 5-ounce glass of wine, or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits. If you have diabetes, you should be aware of the other health risks around drinking.

Alcohol is absorbed directly into the bloodstream from the stomach or the small intestine, carried through the body, and delivered to the liver. Comprehensive, accurate, easy-to-understand articles written by a team who live with diabetes, and fact-checked by medical professionals. If you found this guide to diabetes and alcohol useful, please sign up for our newsletter (and get a sign-up bonus) in the form below. We send out a weekly newsletter with the latest posts and recipes from Diabetes Strong. Instead, choose dry wines (red or white), cocktails with sugar-free mixers (diet soda or club soda), lighter beers. Most spirits (vodka, rum, whiskey, tequila) actually contain 0 grams of carbohydrates.

Other health risks

1The prefix “hyper-” always indicates higher than normal levels of a substance, whereas the prefix “hypo-” indicates lower than normal levels. Thus, hyperinsulinemia refers to higher than diabetes and alcohol normal insulin levels in the blood, whereas hypoglycemia refers to lower than normal glucose levels in the blood. The pancreas, which is located behind the stomach, serves two functions.

“I think this is an important study to do because for a while, people thought that alcohol was protective against the heart because of earlier studies that were done in the past. But in fact, we don’t prescribe alcohol to fight heart disease,” she said. Coronary heart disease, also known as coronary artery disease, is the most common type of heart disease in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disease develops when the arteries of the heart are unable to deliver enough oxygen-rich blood to the heart because of plaque buildup.