More Good News for Diabetics . . .

. . . unless you’re teetotal. As with several health conditions, moderate wine consumption improves fasting glucose levels in diabetics. This has been shown in an Israeli study that was actually done in teetotalers. It’s been reported in the journal Diabetes Care. Apparently there are quite a lot of alcohol abstainers in Israel, and it wasn’t too difficult to find over 100 teetotal type 2 diabetics to participate in a study. They were aged between 40 and 75.

The volunteers were randomly allocated to take either 150 mL (1 to 1½ glasses) of wine or non-alcoholic diet beer every day for 3 months. Over 90 of them completed the trial. In the alcohol group, average fasting blood glucose levels fell from 140 to 118 mg/dL during the study, compared with 137 to 139 mg/dL in the controls (beer). Unfortunately, alcohol had no effect on the 2-hour post-meal glucose levels. It was interesting those with more severe diabetes (i.e. higher HbA1c levels) had greater reductions in fasting glucose. Waist circumference and LDL-cholesterol levels were also reduced from baseline in the alcohol group, but there were no changes in the HDL-cholesterol levels. And 3 months after the end of the study, 50% of the study subjects were continuing to drink alcohol in moderation.

This is an encouraging finding to diabetics who like a glass of wine (or two). One must remember the calories, of course. Break out the Manischewitz!