Beer!

[Dan E B]

Hi all,

I had a fasting blood test a year ago and it came back at 6.2 mmol/l. My doctor suggested I do another one a couple of months ago and it's now 5.6 mmol/l which the doctor said is nothing really to worry about. I've felt for a long time that my sugar levels aren't quite balanced so recently purchased a Freestyle Libra CGM which i've been wearing for a week. No massive surprises; fasting levels between 5.5 and 6.0 mmol/l, post-prandial levels (2-3 hours after etaing) where they should be and no reading above 9.5 for any food (after about 30 mins). White rice causes the biggest spike but that doesn't suprise me. However.... yesterday i decided to see what happens if I don't eat for 6 hours and then drink 3 pints of lager. I've always struggled with incredibly bad hangovers and energy levels after alcohol so thought it would be interesting. My mmol spiked at about 9.5 then went down quite quickly to 3.2 mmol/l. I had a chicken wrap which pushed things back up but i felt pretty terrible to be honest. I've read that 3.2 is pretty low. Has anyone had a similar experience? Does this resonate? Obviously I'm not going to try this again and my view on alcohol and in particular beer has now changed.

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Hi all,

I had a fasting blood test a year ago and it came back at 6.2 mmol/l. My doctor suggested I do another one a couple of months ago and it's now 5.6 mmol/l which the doctor said is nothing really to worry about. I've felt for a long time that my sugar levels aren't quite balanced so recently purchased a Freestyle Libra CGM which i've been wearing for a week. No massive surprises; fasting levels between 5.5 and 6.0 mmol/l, post-prandial levels (2-3 hours after etaing) where they should be and no reading above 9.5 for any food (after about 30 mins). White rice causes the biggest spike but that doesn't suprise me. However.... yesterday i decided to see what happens if I don't eat for 6 hours and then drink 3 pints of lager. I've always struggled with incredibly bad hangovers and energy levels after alcohol so thought it would be interesting. My mmol spiked at about 9.5 then went down quite quickly to 3.2 mmol/l. I had a chicken wrap which pushed things back up but i felt pretty terrible to be honest. I've read that 3.2 is pretty low. Has anyone had a similar experience? Does this resonate? Obviously I'm not going to try this again and my view on alcohol and in particular beer has now changed.

Your liver dumps glucose when it is low. And your liver filters alcohol, which it considers a toxin, out of your blood.

The thing a liver can't do?

Multitask.

So it'll do either one or the other, and a toxin'll usually take precedence over a glucose dump, which is likely why you got so low. It should've kicked in gear, but it couldn't take your call because the line was busy.

Also, beer is liquid bread, so hence the spike... Lots of carbs in there, and they're a liquid, so they hit the system fast and hard. Which explains that bit.

No idea if any of that is useful, but it all does kind of make sense.

Jo

 

[Jasmin2000]

I like your "experiment" - lol.
Beer and lager are complicated for diabetics, as the drink contains a lot of sugar, which gets into your blood quickly and raises BG. But alcohol drives BG down a bit later (that's why we all feel hungry after a few pints). Eventually the alcohol is metabolized and whatever you ate when hungry causes another BG rise.

 

[KennyA]

Hi all,

I had a fasting blood test a year ago and it came back at 6.2 mmol/l. My doctor suggested I do another one a couple of months ago and it's now 5.6 mmol/l which the doctor said is nothing really to worry about. I've felt for a long time that my sugar levels aren't quite balanced so recently purchased a Freestyle Libra CGM which i've been wearing for a week. No massive surprises; fasting levels between 5.5 and 6.0 mmol/l, post-prandial levels (2-3 hours after etaing) where they should be and no reading above 9.5 for any food (after about 30 mins). White rice causes the biggest spike but that doesn't suprise me. However.... yesterday i decided to see what happens if I don't eat for 6 hours and then drink 3 pints of lager. I've always struggled with incredibly bad hangovers and energy levels after alcohol so thought it would be interesting. My mmol spiked at about 9.5 then went down quite quickly to 3.2 mmol/l. I had a chicken wrap which pushed things back up but i felt pretty terrible to be honest. I've read that 3.2 is pretty low. Has anyone had a similar experience? Does this resonate? Obviously I'm not going to try this again and my view on alcohol and in particular beer has now changed.

hi and welcome to the forums. What you're seeing is not unusual. Beer is quite high in carb, and alcohol also has the effect of suppressing the liver's production of glucose. Your three pints might have around 50-60g carb.

I have had a similar experience to yours. In fact, when I went on my original "welcome to T2" course some years back, the NHs dietitian there recommended that if I was on a keto diet (which I was and am, at around 20g/day), and chose to drink, it was a really good idea to load some food carbs at the same time. I've usually followed that advice and it's always worked - the one occasion when I didn't was a disaster.

So, in my experience, what you did was exactly what I wouldn't do if I was going to have more than one drink. The carbs will have hit your bloodstream fairly quickly with nothing in your stomach. That leads directly to the BG rise to mid nines, followed equally quickly by your liver stopping glucose production to deal with the alcohol; leading directly to the BG fall. Essentially you're turning off the organ that's responsible for regulating your current BG level.

The old advice about "not drinking on an empty stomach" is sound. I do wonder whether the "going to your head quickly" is actually a lowered BG thing, don't know.

I think you're right to be careful. Alcohol can lower BG (mine anyway) quite abruptly and if you're already at lowish BG levels to start with there's nowhere to go. It doesn't stop me drinking beer (within my ~20g/day allowance), particularly low-carb beers, or wine or spirits. I just really make sure that if I'm going to, I do so with food.

 

[Paul_]

As an additional point to @JoKalsbeek's reply, when I drink vodka and diet coke, my BG readings actually reduce from the pre-drinking starting reading. It's the liver's inability to multi-task in action!

Worth also noting that while BG levels are temporarily reduced due to low/zero carb alcohol consumption, your liver isn't burning through any of its stores, which can increase your chances of developing a fatty liver, or exacerbate it if you already have one.

 

[Dan E B]

Your liver dumps glucose when it is low. And your liver filters alcohol, which it considers a toxin, out of your blood.

The thing a liver can't do?

Multitask.

So it'll do either one or the other, and a toxin'll usually take precedence over a glucose dump, which is likely why you got so low. It should've kicked in gear, but it couldn't take your call because the line was busy.

Also, beer is liquid bread, so hence the spike... Lots of carbs in there, and they're a liquid, so they hit the system fast and hard. Which explains that bit.

No idea if any of that is useful, but it all does kind of make sense.

Jo

Very useful - thanks! I didn't know that.

 

[Dan E B]

hi and welcome to the forums. What you're seeing is not unusual. Beer is quite high in carb, and alcohol also has the effect of suppressing the liver's production of glucose. Your three pints might have around 50-60g carb.

I have had a similar experience to yours. In fact, when I went on my original "welcome to T2" course some years back, the NHs dietitian there recommended that if I was on a keto diet (which I was and am, at around 20g/day), and chose to drink, it was a really good idea to load some food carbs at the same time. I've usually followed that advice and it's always worked - the one occasion when I didn't was a disaster.

So, in my experience, what you did was exactly what I wouldn't do if I was going to have more than one drink. The carbs will have hit your bloodstream fairly quickly with nothing in your stomach. That leads directly to the BG rise to mid nines, followed equally quickly by your liver stopping glucose production to deal with the alcohol; leading directly to the BG fall. Essentially you're turning off the organ that's responsible for regulating your current BG level.

The old advice about "not drinking on an empty stomach" is sound. I do wonder whether the "going to your head quickly" is actually a lowered BG thing, don't know.

I think you're right to be careful. Alcohol can lower BG (mine anyway) quite abruptly and if you're already at lowish BG levels to start with there's nowhere to go. It doesn't stop me drinking beer (within my ~20g/day allowance), particularly low-carb beers, or wine or spirits. I just really make sure that if I'm going to, I do so with food.

Thanks - good advice. I will check out low-carb beers as well. Any recommendations?

 

[becca59]

Just to point out 3.2 is low if you are on insulin. But if not your body will correct itself.

 

[KennyA]

Thanks - good advice. I will check out low-carb beers as well. Any recommendations?

Yes - there is a low carb beer thread on here

Zero-carb beer

I saw this advertised and gave it a try. I have been a bit skeptical about low-carb/zero carb beers in the past, as almost all (Marston's Resolution is the only half decent one) taste so bad that they're not worth it. However, Salute is an exception. They do two beers, a lager (4.8%) and an...

www.diabetes.co.uk

that I started some time ago - there are a host of recommendations and "tasting notes". At the moment I am finding Westbrook Brewery's beers to be very good. Around one or two g carb per 330ml can, plenty of flavour. Expensive, but it makes 20g/day so much easier. Order online.

Westbrooks Brewery

Low Carb Beer, Pilsner, Pale Ale & IPA

westbrooksbrewery.co.uk

And there are things like Marston's Resolution - little bit higher in carb but less expensive and an OK beer.