Alcoholism can often lead to a situation of diabetes. Alcohol lowers the blood sugar level in your body and results in hypoglycemia. This is especially true if you are drinking on an empty stomach.
Hence, if you are suffering from diabetes, it is advisable to limit your alcohol intake to one glass a day. Our body reacts to alcohol in a violent way because alcohol is a toxin. There are many ways in which alcoholism can cause diabetes.
Alcoholism Leading to Diabetes
The following points will tell you how can alcoholism cause diabetes.
Our body stores glucose in the liver and releases it into the blood stream whenever the glucose level in the blood stream falls. Alcohol has the effect of reducing the levels of glucose in the blood stream. When you consume alcohol, your body starts to break down the alcohol into simpler compounds. However, the body takes time to do this and hence if you consume large portions of alcohol, then your body will be unable to break down the alcohol fast enough.
This leads to excess alcohol in the bloodstream instead of being metabolized in your stomach. If your liver can not clear all the alcohol from your bloodstream then it will not release glucose into the blood stream. At the same time, the excess alcohol that passes into the blood stream contributes to lowering the glucose level in the blood stream. The liver clears out the excess alcohol first before releasing glucose to compensate the blood sugar levels. Thus during the time it takes for your liver to clear the excess alcohol, you can end up having very low blood sugar levels in your body.
Diabetes is a disease where the bloodstream suffers from low level of glucose. The medications that you are supposed to take if you suffer from diabetes such as meglitinides, sulfonylureas and so on work to remove excess glucose from the blood stream.
Effects of Drinking on a Diabetic Patient
Drinking can affect diabetes in two ways-
Firstly, if you are a heavy drinker, then the alcohol reduces the effects of the medicines that are supposed to deal with diabetes. Hence, alcohol reduces the sensitivity of the body towards insulin and other diabetes pills.
Secondly, another way in which alcohol can affect a condition of diabetes is by making you obese. Drinking often increases the chances of gaining weight and increasing the number of calories in the bloodstream.
Measures to Adopt
With regard to question of whether can alcoholism cause diabetes, the answer is definitely a yes. However, there are certain measures that you can take in order to keep your health conditions under control. For instance, you should never drink on an empty stomach or drink more than 2 glasses of alcohol. Since women are at an increased possibility of developing diabetes, they should limit themselves to fewer drinks. Another very helpful way to keep the blood sugar levels under control is to check your glucose levels in the blood stream regularly. You can also drink lots of water to prevent yourself from becoming dehydrated.