Big Brews and Diabetes

Medical advice threads typically get shut down quickly, but alcohol comes from sugar treat it as such.

 

I know it might stay up for a while. I'm not diabetic but most in my family are, they just track their sugars more often when they drink. You might be the only one who knows how each beer affects you. Just be careful and make sure you're not doing anything overly unhealthy.

 

Mods are pretty trigger happy here on closing threads but until someone gives actual medical advice such as "you should do this" or "you need to do this" then I'd like to think a thread of personal experiences would be kept open

 

in the choice between ask your doctor and ask a bunch of drunks (i mean hobbyists) I think you might be better off seeking advice from your doctor.

 

My doc quit asking, so I quit telling. He's a believer in no alcohol.

I agree with your results on beer styles and sugars. Will add one additional note. It all depends on how much sugar or malt is in the final products. IPAs, properly brewed, have little sugar left in the the brew.

 

I thought this was a great thread until the OP called my thread lame. Lame. Only kidding this is a very real and also important topic. I have a close friend/fellow craft drinking buddy that I think would find any info helpful. He was just recently diagnosed and is still adjusting his lifestyle. Also I'm kinda high risk being that both parents suffer from complications from diabetes. So please folks contribute. I was actually looking for some info a couple days ago but firsthand accounts are all always better than reading some medical journal bullshit.

 

Diabetic Type 2. Diagnosed this year. I quit all sugars, carbs, white vegetables (potatoes), fruit and dairy. For the first month, even meat. In 4 months time, all my levels are now non-diabetic. 1 month into this diet, I drank approximately 1 beer per day. My numbers are not affected. I work out 5 times per week. Mostly, weight lifting. I still do not eat carbs or sugar. I do the occasional cheese.

 

My father is pre diabetic. Im not sure what that means. And im NOT a doctor so dont quote me. im just sharing a story. i watched my father down 5 irish car bombs and two Kilkennys without something happening. Idk why. And i wouldn't suggest doing it. But i guess it really is a personal matter.

 

I'm hypoglycemic. I never test my self and probably for sure should...... But I don't and feel like shit 60% of the time.
Mayen I have diabetes idk when I drink big stouts or malty beers I feel weird so idk

 

I am type II diabetic so obviously this is a interesting topic to me. My doctor says the current guidelines allow for two alcoholic drinks a day for men, one for women. I didn't ask any furthur questions but I just assumed a big beer might count as two so I limit myself to one per day. I don't have any advice for anyone but talk to your doctor.

 

I'm pre type 2 diabetic diet related, I'm overweight by 25 lbs or so, don't excersise. My A1C have been stable and slightly declining the last 3 years. Yes alcohol comes from sugars, but funny enough moderate consumption reduces A1C numbers too. As always especially being type 1 defer to your doctor.

 

I 35 years old and have had Type 1 for 5 years now. I can tell you the higher the abv of a beer raises my sugar anything around 3-8% abv kps m baseline. When i Drink wine it drops me regardless of style, but craft beer is a different beast. As we know its all about the carbs, wish more breweries would figure out indicate carbs for us!!!

 

As someone who does a bit of diabetes research, the verdict is not set in stone yet, as there is a lot of ongoing research on the topic. In some instances, alcohol can be seen as not quite negative (in the case of Type II diabetes) http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/32/11/2123.full , however in some cases alcohol can be detrimental to your condition (type I diabetes) including possibly dangerous hypoglycemia the next morning http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/24/11/1888.full

Basically, stop asking for advice, talk to your doctor and be honest and transparent.

 

While drunks may not be a good source of information, I sort of disagree with this general sentiment. Medicine is so specialized and vast these days that you're setting yourself up for failure if you assume your GP will know best about everything. You really need to be your own advocate so seeking out information from other sources, which you could then run by your doctor before taking to heart, is a good idea.

I understand why the mods are sensitive to these threads here, but if this were a biking or cooking forum I don't think people would find it strange or pointless to bring up discussions about how personal health issues intersect with the hobby.

 

To follow on my previous post, why would these be two mutually exclusive options?

 

Pre-diabetes refers to the metabolic lab values, such as blood sugar, starting to increase to levels of a diabetic person but not being completely abnormal or warranting medication therapy yet, just as someone can have borderline high blood pressure.

This would most likely cause his blood sugar to increase and there are rarely symptoms seen with higher blood sugars (especially if someone is drunk) unless it gets to critically high levels. Usually people feel symptoms from the lows.

Most of the "big brews" are higher ABV and usually (but not always) of the stout/porter style (BA or non) which would have a higher sugar content. The high malt content of these beers carry with them a lot of carbs usually via sugar that would increase your blood sugar more so than your lighter (color) brews such as IPAs. Alcohol in general causes insulin to be secreted which can also contribute to low sugars in some people especially if they still have insulin production.

Obviously just keep an eye on your sugars for trends while drinking certain beers/styles, which it looks like you have, so you know how your blood sugars respond. Some kind of beer diary might help to keep track of it all.


...pharmacist

 

This works well for me. If I say I found something on the Mayo Clinic site, he is receptive. If I say Wikipedia, he gets angry.