"There is no evidence to suggest that individuals with type 1 diabetes adopt a different approach to their use of alcohol than the rest of the population," Dr. Tristan Richardson and colleagues from Royal Bournemouth Hospital, UK, write.
However, in patients treated with insulin, alcohol has been implicated in up to one fifth of hospital visits for episodes of low blood sugar, also known as hypoglycemia.
The subjects experienced an average of 1.3 hypoglycemic episodes per day during the 24 hours after the alcoholic drink compared with 0.6 after the placebo, statistically significant difference. No episodes of severe hypoglycemia were reported.
The average blood sugar levels after alcohol were lower than after orange juice alone, Richardson and colleagues report. "This translated into an increased risk of (hypoglycemia) throughout the 24-h period, with a persistent risk of hypoglycemia continuing into the next day," the team concludes.
