Winter Maladies: Natural Approaches
June Russell's Health Facts
Health Benefits of Alcohol Questioned — Specific Topics
Alcohol and Diabetes
Diabetics and Wine
The Diabetes Association advises diabetics to avoid alcohol because of the many dangers, but recently there was a well-publicized study suggesting that diabetics benefited from light to moderate wine intake. However, in "Diabetes Care," (November, 2000), a study from Wake Forest University School of Medicine confirmed that there was no benefit when the risk factor of body composition (weight/height ratio and central obesity - an important risk factor) was included.
Dr. Ronny Bell, and others from the Department of the School of Medicine are quoted as saying "Alcohol is by no means a safe drug, nor something that can in any way be recommended for health promotion. Suggesting that alcohol is somehow beneficial is so outweighed by its toxicity as to be criminal."
Diabetics and Alcohol
Although the American Diabetes Association guidelines say that those with well-controlled diabetes can indulge in a drink or two with meals, not everyone with diabetes can or should, cautions John Buse, PhD, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Director of the Diabetes Clinic at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and former Director of the Endocrine Clinic at the University of Chicago. As a calorie-laden, nutritionally lacking food, alcohol is a poor choice for any person with diabetes who’s watching his weight, and alcohol consumed without food can cause blood-sugar levels to drop.
Alcohol worsens glucose tolerance in the elderly and diabetics. Diabetics who drink alcohol have a high risk for eye and nerve damage.
Alcohol is toxic to the nerves. Some studies show that even light regular drinking (less than 2 per week) can bring on nerve damage. Many diabetics have high triglycerides, and they should not drink alcohol.
A study in JAMA reported that moderate drinking appears to improve blood-sugar balance by reducing insulin resistance. Alcohol’s heart benefits in previous studies have only been found in people over 40, so only older diabetics were studied. However, in the accompanying editorial, the researchers said that the study “likely provides benefit,” but it is possible that this benefit has been inflated by comparing the death rates of lifetime alcohol abstainers with moderate drinkers. Those who avoid alcohol consumption include an overrepresentation of persons destined for a less favorable risk-benefit ratio were they to drink. They also warned that alcohol can worsen diabetic nerve damage and insulin resistance, as well as induce low blood-glucose levels. Typically when glucose levels drop, the liver converts stored carbohydrate into glucose. But when alcohol is consumed, the liver acts to clear it from the blood instead. The onset of hypoglycemia, or low blood-glucose levels, can occur very quickly and in severe cases can result in coma and brain damage.
Alcohol hinders the liver’s ability to produce more sugar, and although a temporary relief from low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) may be achieved due to the extra calories derived from drinking, the symptoms of hypoglycemia return even stronger after the effects wear off.
People with diabetes are urged to keep their blood sugar levels in check to avoid multiple complications down the road, Norwegian researchers from Ulleval University Hospital in Oslo confirm. Memory and Blood SugarMemory problems may be a blood sugar problem: Losing your memory in old age sometimes may have nothing to do with Alzheimer’s and lots to do with blood sugar, says a small study from New York University. It has been long known that diabetics are at higher-than-normal-risk for memory problems, probably because diabetes harms blood vessels that supply the brain, heart and other organs. However, simple diet and exercise could help many people protect their brains from the fogged memory associated with aging.
A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that people’s memory may be harmed long before they ever develop full-fledged diabetes - and that’s a problem of fuel, not plumbing. The slower those outwardly healthy people metabolized blood sugar, the worse their memory was, and the smaller their hippocampus was, Dr. Antonio Convit, lead researcher, found. Without treatment, pre-diabetes usually turns into full-fledged diabetes, which in turn brings deadly heart attacks, kidney failure and numerous other ailments. In a Dec. 1996 study reported by Reuters, it was suggested that moderate alcohol consumption suppresses activity in the hippocampus, a key area of the brain for learning and memory. Also, according to Mary Dufour, MD, in “Contemporary Drug Problems,” (1994) there is a decreased cognitive functioning in men and women who socially drink an average of three or more times a week. Dr. Robert Goldman, author of “Brain Fitness” tells us in the ‘Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients’ (1998) that alcohol is a poison for memory. An Examination of a Positive Report
In a study of alcohol consumption and insulin resistance at the University at Buffalo, it stated that moderate alcohol intake may improve insulin sensitivity and an increase of HDL-cholesterol. However, the alcohol consumption was assessed only for the previous seven days, there was an absence of dietary or physical activity, and no direct measurement of insulin sensitivity. More Information on this Topic |