Alcohol
Part of making changes towards a healthier lifestyle is looking at how much alcohol you may be drinking over the week.
Alcohol contains a lot of calories and most drinks contain carbohydrate, which not only leads to weight gain, but can make your blood glucose levels very unstable when you have been drinking.
Alcohol may affect your diabetes, especially if you are using treatments such as Gliclazide, Glimepiride (sulphonylureas) or insulin.
Alcoholic drinks that contain carbohydrate such as beer, lager, cider, alcopops, sweet wines or sweet liqueurs can cause your blood glucose levels to rise. However, the alcohol content can have a lowering effect on your blood glucose levels and increase your risk of hypoglycaemia when you are taking sulphonylureas or insulin.
Keeping safe with alcohol and diabetes
Try to aim to reduce the amount and how often you drink alcohol in the week. It is recommended to try and have no more than 14 units of alcohol spread out across the week as well as including several alcohol-free days in your week.
If you have been drinking alcohol and you are using sulphonylureas or insulin, we recommend having a snack before you go to bed. This snack should contain carbohydrate for example, toast, or crackers with cheese, or yoghurt, or fruit. This will help to prevent a hypo (low blood glucose level) overnight.
What is a unit of alcohol?
A unit of alcohol can vary depending on the strength of the alcoholic drink.
In the UK, a unit of alcohol would be one of the following:
- Half a pint of beer, lager or cider (3.6 to 4% ABV)
- 25ml measure of a spirit (40% ABV)
- 125ml glass of wine (9 to 11% ABV)
What about alternative drinks?
There are a lot more “low alcohol” and “no alcohol” drinks available now and they can sometimes contain much more sugar and carbohydrate than an alcoholic drink, which will affect your blood glucose levels.
Lower sugar alcoholic drinks may have more alcohol in them, which can increase your risk of hypoglycaemia.
Being aware of what you are drinking is important so that you can drink safely. If you monitor your blood glucose levels, take your usual blood glucose testing kit with you if you are drinking away from home and check regularly whilst drinking and before bed.
Alcohol can affect your blood glucose levels into the following day, depending on how much you have been drinking, so keep a close check on your blood glucose levels. If you need further support with medications and insulin, contact your Diabetes team.
Forward Leeds
Forward Leeds offers friendly and confidential support for people wanting to reduce or stop alcohol and other substances. They can offer one to one support, structured group sessions and community programmes.
There is a self-referral form available online:
- Forward Leeds website
- Phone: 0113 887 2477 open 9am to 5pm from Monday to Friday
