The 4 Alcoholic Drinks That Are Worst for Blood Sugar

Keep your blood sugar consistent by considering these four drinks before making a beverage choice.Did you know that consuming alcohol can help to lower your blood sugar? The American Diabetes Association (ADA) claims that a daily drink might enhance insulin sensitivity and blood sugar control, which may seem unusual. This is true if you only have one or two drinks each day, which is considered to be no more than a 5-ounce glass of wine, a 12-ounce lager, or 1.5 ounces of an 80-proof spirit.

Of course, excessive alcohol use can result in a dangerous drop in blood sugar levels, even while it occasionally helps to stabilize blood sugar levels. Due to the liver's preference for processing alcohol over releasing glucose during digestion, drinking alcohol can interfere with your liver's ability to metabolize food. A drop in blood sugar levels brought on by consuming too much of it can result in a variety of symptoms, such as trembling, anxiety, nausea, hunger, dizziness, exhaustion, migraines, and more. According to the ADA, a significant drop in glucose can cause hypoglycemia, which can be harmful in particular for people with diabetes.

In addition to excessive drinking, some drinks can harm your health by raising your blood sugar because of the substantial amount of added sugars they include in each sip. Here are some of the beverages that may cause your blood sugar levels to surge the most, along with some alternatives to drinking them. Here are the 5 Best Drinking Habits for Your Blood Sugar if you're looking for even more sensible drinking advice.

1 Sweet wines

Johns Hopkins Medicine claims that sweet dessert wines and other alcoholic beverages with high calorie counts are frequently also high in added sugars. Per 3.5-ounce glass, dessert wines typically have 8 grams of sugar. Popular sweet wine varieties include Riesling, Moscato, White Zinfandel, Port, and White Zinfandel.

Finding a dry wine is a better solution. The best wines often have less than one gram of sugar per 5-ounce glass of dry red wine, followed by dry white wine, which typically has around two grams.

2 Syrupy cocktails

The majority of cocktails are blended with various kinds of syrups for extra sweetness and flavor, though this does vary from cocktail to cocktail. If you want to maintain your blood sugar levels as steadily as possible, ordering a cocktail means you can't regulate how much syrup is added to your drink.

Picking a cocktail without "simple" (i.e., simple syrup) or other natural sweeteners like honey or maple syrup is the best course of action. Instead, have a basic martini (only gin and vermouth), a vodka or tequila soda with a lime wedge, or create your own concoction with these 9 Healthiest Cocktails You Can Make at Home!

3 Frozen mixed drinks

On a warm day, a frozen pia colada, margarita, or even frosé seems perfect, but these drinks are probably full of added sugars that can easily produce glucose spikes. Fruit juices and concentrates that have been added can raise the amount of sugar, and some restaurants may even add a sugary slush to make it frozen. The best course of action is to simply pass this drink up at the bar as there is no indication of how much sugar it contains.

As an alternative, you can create a healthier version at home! Why not whip together this Pia Colada Smoothie (spike it, we won't judge) if you're in the mood for a frozen beverage? or create these frozen treats? Consider this Bubbly Rosé Kombucha Float instead.

4 Wine coolers

Wine coolers, those vibrant beverages presented in bottles, are frequently loaded with extra sugar, often containing up to 30 grams per bottle. That amounts to 7.5 teaspoons, which is already more than the daily recommended serving size. Women should limit their daily intake of added sugars to six teaspoons (25 grams), while men should limit it to nine, according to the American Heart Association (36 grams).

Why not look for a low-sugar hard seltzer in place of a bottled drink if you enjoy the convenience of doing so? It is possible to have a flavored drink without the unavoidable surges because a lot of hard seltzer options are flavored while still having very little added sugar.