Cocktail Hour Is Healthy
I was just tickled pink to read the Reuters article A drink with meals lowers blood sugar afterwards. I’ve always felt (nothing scientific at all!) that drinking your calories (i.e. alcohol, soda, juice, etc) is just different than eating them. Well this study concludes that having a cocktail before or during a meal will lower your blood sugar after the meal. For me, blood sugar or excess insulin have created a situation that makes it very difficult for me to lose weight. I must watch the amount of carbs I eat or I will gain weight (much less lose!).
The team first tested the effect of drinking beer, white wine, or gin compared to eating the equivalent amount of calories in carbohydrate. Each of the alcoholic beverages produced a smaller rise in blood sugar than the bread, while insulin response to the drinks was also lower than to the bread, according to the report.
In the next experiment, the researcher found that blood sugar rose less when any of the alcoholic beverages were consumed with the bread compared to eating bread with water. Wine had the strongest effect, while the effect of beer was the weakest.
In a third situation, when study participants drank before a meal — specifically, the equivalent of about two drinks of beer, wine or gin an hour before eating a meal of instant mashed potatoes — the post-meal blood glucose increase also was lower than when they drank water.
Having a cocktail before or with dinner can reduce blood sugar levels by 37%. How great is that!!!!
Here is the summary:
"We conclude that alcoholic beverages consumed alone, with or before a carbohydrate-containing meal, are capable of reducing peak blood glucose concentrations or the overall postprandial glucose response in young, lean, healthy subjects," they write. "These effects may provide a hitherto unrecognized benefit of moderate alcohol consumption for cardiovascular health."
Tags: weight loss, diet, blood sugar, insulin, low-carb
