Nightcap Ups Risk of Low
Blood Sugar in Diabetics

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People with type 1 diabetes may want to forego an after-dinner nightcap or risk a dangerous drop in their blood sugar the next morning, study findings suggest.

Men with type 1 diabetes had significantly lower blood glucose (sugar) after breakfast when they had consumed about four glasses of white wine the previous evening than when they drank mineral water, investigators found.

Five of the six study participants required treatment for their condition the morning after they drank wine, but none of the volunteers had low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia, after drinking water, according to the report in the November issue of Diabetes Care.

The researchers, led by Dr. Benjamin C. Turner from Royal Bournemouth Hospital in the UK, suggest that alcohol may impair the secretion of growth hormone, which makes the body more sensitive to insulin. Indeed, secretion of this hormone was lower between midnight and 4 AM in the men who drank wine. Levels of other compounds such as insulin, the stress hormone cortisol and glucagon were no different when individuals consumed wine or water.

However, the reason why wine raises the risk of hypoglycemia is not clear from the current findings, the authors add.

``Evening consumption of alcohol causes lowering of blood glucose the next morning and increases the risk of hypoglycemia after breakfast,'' Turner and colleagues conclude.

People with type 1 diabetes do not produce enough insulin to regulate their blood sugar. Consequently, they take daily injections of insulin, the hormone that clears the blood of sugar after a meal and deposits it into cells throughout the body for use as energy. Insufficient amounts of insulin are associated with elevated blood glucose, which can lead to kidney failure, nerve damage and a number of other medical complications over the long run.

Too much insulin, on the other hand, can cause a dangerous drop in blood glucose that results in hypoglycemia. Symptoms of hypoglycemia include sweating, increased heart rate, nausea and fatigue.

SOURCE: Diabetes Care 2001;24:1888-1893.

Reference Source 89

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