Moderate alcohol consumption may benefit people with type 2 diabetes, according to a new study. Researchers say a little drinking can have an impact on blood glucose and fat metabolism in a positive way.
Despite the findings, health experts from the Diabetes UK and other similar organisations urge people to be mindful of the amount of alcohol they consume. Because alcohol can cause blood sugar levels to drop, the risk fo experiencing a hypoglycaemic episode is high for diabetes patients. This can also trigger weight gain and other serious health issues.
Researchers from Southeast University conducted the study. The findings were presented at the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Barcelona, Spain.
For the study, the team collected data from the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane to investigate alcohol's effect on glucose and lipid metabolism in patients with type 2 diabetes. The results showed consuming alcohol helped reduce triglyceride levels and insulin levels. However, it did not have a major impact on fasting blood glucose levels, glycated haemoglobin, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (bad) cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein (good) cholesterol.
However, moderate amounts of alcohol helped reduce levels of triglycerides and insulin in type 2 diabetes patients. 20g or less of alcohol daily was considered to be moderate drinking by the authors of the study, which is like a glass of wine or can of beer.
"Findings of this meta-analysis show a positive effect of alcohol on glucose and fat metabolism in people with type 2 diabetes," authors of the study told a news portal. Adding, "Larger studies are needed to further evaluate the effects of alcohol consumption on blood sugar management, especially in patients with type 2 diabetes."
Another study, published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, found post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment could help protect against type 2 diabetes. "Some long-term chronic health conditions associated with PTSD may be less likely to occur among patients who experience clinically meaningful symptom reduction either through treatment or spontaneous improvement," Jeffrey Scherrer, a professor in Family and Community Medicine at SLU, told a news portal.
The findings of the study suggest PTSD treatment could offer a novel way of reducing the risk of this common condition. "In patients with only PTSD, clinically meaningful PCL decrease is associated with a lower risk for diabetes and in patients with PTSD and depression, we found improvement in PTSD was coupled with a decrease in depression," Scherrer told a news portal. Adding, "Thus the decreased risk of type 2 diabetes appears to follow large PTSD symptoms decrease and in patients with both PTSD and depression, improvement in both conditions may be necessary to reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes."
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