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A glass of wine good for diabetics?

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Posted 1/13/2008 6:14 PM (GMT 0)
Just recently I restarted drinking one glass of red wine with dinner and noticed a good improvement in my numbers. Since I didn't know if I should be drinking at all I did a little googling. Here is a website that I found with good info. Please give me your thoughts and experiences.
http://thediabeticweekendchef.com/
Montana
Posted 1/13/2008 9:12 PM (GMT 0)

It's a thumbs up from me. A glass or two of red wine every evening keeps my blood glucose on an even keel throughout the night and into the following morning.

My understanding is that there is little effective sugar in red wine (be careful with many white wines) and that the alcohol inhibits gluconeogenesis in the liver. I don't have a problem with the dawn phenomenon, and I think the wine may be part of the reason for that.

Cheers m'dears!

fergusc

Posted 1/13/2008 9:50 PM (GMT 0)
Wine is fine.   :-)    I usually drink a glass (sometimes 2, depending on the dinner and the people!) with dinner.  Make sure it's not fortified wine, sweet vermouth (sure miss that one though) liqueurs sad  or other sweetened spirits.  As Fergusc said, it does help with the blood sugar.  It's been my understanding that people on insulin have to be very careful because of lows, so if you take meds, be careful and always test.  (Always test anyway so you know how it affects your blood sugar.  We're all different.)  And please remember that we're not doctors here, just regular people dealing with diabetes, so if in doubt, please ask your doctor.

Posted 1/15/2008 4:37 AM (GMT 0)
Unless you happen to be on diabetes meds... Many of our meds are metabolized in the liver same as the alcohol and this creates a problem. Me, I choose to forgo the wine in place of a nice clean delicious glass of Michigan water... but then you can't all have Michigan water so I guess you need to substitute wine. (Tee Hee!)
Posted 1/15/2008 6:16 PM (GMT 0)
I have Diabeties and neuropathy and am type 1, I heard any alcohol is bad for the neuropathy. I would love a glass of wine at night. I used to drink it before I had neuropathy and found my sugars were much better at night and in the morning. Then I read that it was bad for the neuropathy and gave it up. Any thoughts on this, I would love to bring it back into my dinner menu.
Posted 1/15/2008 9:21 PM (GMT 0)

Woody, I really don't know how these stories get started, and this is a new one for me. There's no doubt that drinking to excess can cause harm, particularly to the liver. And any Type 1's like me who have overindulged from time to time will know how it can be a cause of hypoglycemia. But that any alcohol at all causes neuropathy is frankly bizarre in my opinion.

If you ask me, the only certain cause of neuropathy is elevated blood sugars and associated hyperinsulinemia. This causes glycation reactions to nerves and proteins throughout the body. In other words, all the complications associated with diabetes. If a glass or two of wine helps to stabilise your blood sugars, as you say it did for you and it certainly does for me, then this is surely protective against neuropathy.

I'm not cancelling my red wine helath insurance policy, that's for sure.

Cheers!,

fergusc

Posted 1/17/2008 8:45 PM (GMT 0)
The other thing to be careful of is what you eat with the wine. Your body will use the alcohol first for energy leaving you more likely to have a rise in blood sugar if you eat sugar or starchy food with your wine.
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