Yes, you can usually drink beer safely if you have diabetes, but it's not without risks. Drinking any form of alcohol can affect your blood sugar levels, so you need to limit your intake to what is safe for you by knowing your own limits.
So yes, you can still drink, but you need to be aware of how it can affect your body and how to manage this. For example, drinking can make you more likely to have a hypo, because alcohol interferes with your blood sugar levels. It can affect your weight too, as there can be a lot of calories in alcoholic drinks.
Choose “light” beers—they are lowest in carbs, calories, and alcohol. Pace yourself—don't have more than one drink per hour, and limit yourself to no more than three or four drinks for the day.
Alcoholic drinks such as beer and sweetened mixed drinks are high in carbohydrates, which can raise blood sugar levels. Alcohol has a lot of calories, which can lead to weight gain. This makes it harder to manage diabetes. Calories from alcohol are stored in the liver as fat.
Light beer is the best choice due to its lower alcohol content; however, it will only be of benefit if you drink the same number or less beers, not more beers than you would drinking regular strength.
Heavy drinking, particularly in diabetics, also can cause the accumulation of certain acids in the blood that may result in severe health consequences. Finally, alcohol consumption can worsen diabetes-related medical complications, such as disturbances in fat metabolism, nerve damage, and eye disease.
While alcohol can lower blood sugar levels, it also has the potential to increase them. Regular, long-term use of alcohol has been shown to increase insulin resistance. This means drinking can make it even harder for people with type 2 diabetes—which is defined by elevated glucose levels—to manage their blood sugar.
A. No, zero sugar soda uses artificial sweeteners, which increases people's weight. Increased weight, in turn, is linked to the worsening of diabetes. Hence, zero soda is not suitable for diabetes.
Most people with diabetes can enjoy a small amount of alcohol. However, it's best to discuss it first with your diabetes healthcare team. For people who are on insulin or the sulfonylurea class of diabetes tablets, alcohol may increase the risk of hypoglycaemia ('hypos'), often many hours after drinking the alcohol.
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, drinking is considered to be in the moderate or low-risk range for women at no more than three drinks in any one day and no more than seven drinks per week. For men, it is no more than four drinks a day and no more than 14 drinks per week.
While the sugar content in beer is zero, other alcoholic drinks can contain a lot of sugar, especially mixed drinks and liqueurs. The former includes popular choices like daiquiris, margaritas, and piña coladas.
Substances form when alcohol breaks down in the liver. These substances block the liver from making new glucose. Blood sugars fall and you can quickly become too low. Drinking can affect your blood sugar for up to 12 hours.
A note on drinking level terms used in this Core article: The 2020-2025 U.S. Dietary Guidelines states that for adults who choose to drink alcohol, women should have 1 drink or less in a day and men should have 2 drinks or less in a day. These amounts are not intended as an average but rather a daily limit.
Beer has zero grams of sugar while sodas could have forty or more in each can. If we are counting calories and sugar, I would say someone who drinks two beers a day is much less likely to get a beer belly at the same rate as someone who drinks two sodas a day.
Calories, carbs and sugar
Corona Cero has 17 calories per 100ml, compared to 42 calories per 100ml in the full-strength Corona Extra. There are 3.9g of carbohydrates per 100ml, of which 0.7g is sugar.
Generally, beer has more calories than wine, but the calorie difference in the two primarily comes from the leftover carbohydrates in beer, as the sugar content for most wines is fairly low.
In short, yes, it's safe to drink coffee if you have diabetes. Although the research on coffee's benefits is mixed, as long as you keep an eye on your blood sugar and stick to coffee with less sugar, drinking coffee shouldn't be dangerous.
The American Diabetes Association recommends that people with diabetes consume fruit in moderation, including bananas. This doesn't mean you should ignore those carbohydrates, but you should consider how many carbs you need daily.
Drinking plenty of water helps your kidneys flush out excess sugar. One study found that people who drink more water lower their risk for developing high blood sugar levels. And remember, water is the best.
Protein-rich foods like eggs can play an important role in regulating blood sugar levels for people with diabetes. Plus, eggs contain many essential vitamins and minerals, and have just 80 calories each.
Despite the potential health perks of drinking alcohol, there are some cautions as well. The biggest concern is hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). When drinking alcohol is combined with the medications most often used to treat diabetes—particularly insulin and sulfonylureas, low blood sugar can result.