drink or three on a Friday night may lead to a
weekend’s worth of poor food choices.
You may know what we’re talking about.
From a hormonal perspective, alcohol
consumption interferes with glucose function
in the body and with the actions of regulatory
hormones like insulin and glucagon. Even in
well-nourished people, alcohol can disturb
blood sugar levels. Especially when combined
with sugar (Jack and Coke, anyone?), alcohol
increases insulin secretion, which pulls too
much blood sugar out of the bloodstream,
causing temporary hypoglycemia.
Furthermore, alcohol can impair glucagon’s
normal function, leaving your blood sugar
levels too low for too long—a very stressful
situation for the body.