Alcohol Poses Serious Risks for Those With Diabetes

HealthDay – 1 hr 22 mins ago FRIDAY, July 20 (HealthDay News) -- People who have certain chronic medical conditions, such as type 1 diabetes, are even more susceptible than most to the ill effects of alcohol, though they may not be aware of how potentially dangerous alcohol can be.

That was the case for Cynthia Zuber when she first went away to college. Although Zuber had type 1 diabetes, also known as insulin-dependent diabetes, she didn't know at the time that mixing an alcohol binge and insulin use might have deadly consequences.

Zuber was just 18 when she went to a fraternity party.

"It was a party of upperclassmen, and my friend and I, both freshmen, felt very young and out of place," she recalled. "To deal with the discomfort, I started drinking beer."

Throughout the evening, she said, she went back for refills on her own, and people also repeatedly brought her refills. "I had no idea how many beers I had," she said, nor did she know her blood sugar levels because she didn't test them during the party.

Alcohol can cause blood sugar levels to drop dangerously low for people on blood sugar-lowering medications for as long as 12 hours after their last drink, according to the American Diabetes Association.

"Things got out of control quickly, and when we went to leave I had to be carried to the car and into my dorm," she explained.

Zuber said she vomited throughout the night, probably from the beer, but she doesn't know for sure because she didn't test her blood sugar levels before going to bed, either. At some point during the night, she passed out, and when she woke in the morning, she was still vomiting.

When she tested her blood sugar, it was low enough that she knew she'd have to eat something or she would quickly be in serious trouble. The problem was, she couldn't keep food down. She even tried drinking water, but threw that up, too. Someone in her dorm drove her to the emergency department.

"I was so oblivious to the danger I'd put myself in," Zuber recalled. "The doctor, who was wearing Birkenstock sandals and an earring, actually slapped me across the face -- not hard, but to get my attention." The doctor then explained to her a number of ways that alcohol could cause serious problems, or even death, for someone with type 1 diabetes.

Zuber said she didn't give up drinking entirely after that incident, but did cut way back and never again drank enough to have to go to the hospital. Now 36, Zuber recently gave up alcohol entirely because, she said, she just feels better if she doesn't drink.

For anyone with diabetes, the American Diabetes Association recommends having a snack at the same time you're consuming an alcoholic beverage, and to not have more than one drink a day for women and two a day for men. But most important, the association says, is to check your blood sugar before going to sleep after drinking alcohol -- striving for a level between 100 and 140 milligrams per deciliter.

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The Health Benefits, and Risks, of Alcohol

HealthDay – 1 hr 22 mins ago FRIDAY, July 20 (HealthDay News) -- Mirroring so much of life, alcohol consumption comes with plusses and minuses.

A lot of recent research has highlighted the potentially beneficial effects on the heart and other parts of the body of drinking wine and other alcoholic beverages. But risks to health exist, too, as well as the more well-known and potentially life-threatening effects of alcohol, including drunken driving and addiction.

The Good

Alcohol consumption in moderation has been linked to a host of good outcomes. Studies have suggested that drinking alcohol, wine in particular, may reduce your risk for heart disease, stroke, gallstone formation, type 2 diabetes and dementia. It may also give your metabolism a slight boost.

"Alcohol, especially red wine, has resveratrol and antioxidants and bioflavonoids and polyphenols, and all of these wonderful things that dilate the arteries and reduce inflammation," said Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, director of women and heart disease at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, and a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association.

"Alcohol can definitely be part of a heart-healthy diet if you're drinking responsibly," she said.

"Drinking responsibly," though, might very well mean drinking less than you think, another expert noted.

"Moderate alcohol consumption for women is up to one drink a day, and for men it's two drinks a day," explained Elizabeth Kovacs, director of the alcohol research program at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago. "One drink is 5 ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer or a 1.5 ounce shot of liquor."

Steinbaum pointed out that people should be especially careful when ordering a glass or two of wine at a restaurant because they're often far larger than one serving size.

Kovacs added that "the benefits of alcohol are pretty restricted, and it's only beneficial if you drink at a low level, you don't take certain medications, you don't have liver or pancreas disease and you're not pregnant."

And, the experts agreed, none of the benefits of alcohol are reason enough to start drinking.

"If you don't already drink, don't start drinking for its health benefits," Steinbaum said. "You can eat a heart-healthy diet, such as the Mediterranean diet with lots of fruits and vegetables, and get a benefit, too. You don't have to have alcohol to protect your heart."

The Bad

Though a small amount of alcohol can help the heart, more is not better, Steinbaum stressed. Alcohol can raise the levels of triglyceride, a harmful fat found in the blood, she said, and it can also lead to higher blood pressure.

Some people also are prone to a condition called holiday heart syndrome, which causes irregular heartbeats when they drink alcohol, though some of them can drink a little without triggering the condition. Steinbaum said she had one patient who knew he couldn't have more than two martinis or he would have an irregular heartbeat.

Excess alcohol consumption can also lead to weight gain, Steinbaum noted, and alcohol can be detrimental to the kidneys and liver as well, particularly for people taking certain medications, such as statins to lower cholesterol or even over-the-counter acetaminophen (Tylenol) to relieve pain.

In addition, recent studies have linked alcohol consumption to an increased risk for certain cancers, asthma and allergies. Alcohol can also be a problem for people who take blood sugar-lowering medications, such as insulin, because it can cause blood sugar levels to drop unpredictably, and to potentially dangerously low levels.

The Ugly

Some of the worst outcomes from alcohol consumption, however, include abuse and addiction, binge drinking, drinking while pregnant, alcohol poisoning, brain damage, increased violent behavior and driving under the influence.

"Alcohol increases the chance of a motor vehicle accident, violence against others, inadvertent violence against oneself, spread of sexually transmitted diseases, unplanned pregnancies, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and becoming dependent on alcohol," Kovacs said.

She noted that alcohol plays a role in one-third of all car crashes and, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it's a factor in two-thirds of the incidents of intimate-partner violence.

"It's important that people are informed about the effects of alcohol on their body so they can be prepared to not drink, or to drink responsibly," said Kovacs. "The benefits of alcohol consumption are very minimal compared to the risks."

More information

The American Heart Association has more on the cardiovascular effects of alcohol consumption.

To read about the risks that alcohol can pose to people with diabetes click here.

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Minors have an easy time buying alcohol online

Reuters – 1 hr 26 mins ago NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Nearly half of all attempts by underage buyers to purchase alcohol online were successful in a new study, exposing weaknesses in both delivery companies' and online vendors' systems for verifying customer ages.

"We know that young people will search for the easiest avenue to access alcohol," said Alexander Wagenaar, a health outcomes and policy researcher at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville, who was not involved in the study.

"There needs to be real age and ID checking when it's ordered as well as when it's delivered," he told Reuters Health.

The study did not show how often underage buyers actually purchase alcohol online in real-world settings.

But to measure how easy it might be, researchers asked eight young adults, aged 18 to 20 years old, to try to buy alcohol from 100 online vendors.

If websites asked for identification, the buyers could give a false age, but the study required them to provide their real ID card if it was requested.

Among the retailers, only 12 rejected the sale because of the age of the buyer.

Another 16 purchases were stopped at the point of delivery when the driver checked the recipient's ID.

Some attempts to purchase alcohol failed not because the buyer was underage, but for example because a credit card was denied or the vendor wouldn't ship to the buyer's state.

In the end, 45 out of the 100 attempts ended up with alcohol in the hands of a minor, according to findings published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

Those deliveries included wine, beer and hard liquor.

Rebecca Williams, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who led the study, said she was surprised that minors using their real IDs could buy alcohol online.

"We would imagine that the success rates would have been even higher if they hadn't been forced to use their real ID," she told Reuters Health.

Her study found that deliveries made by FedEx were more likely to overlook the age of the recipient, despite company policies to check identification.

Scott Fiedler, a spokesman for the company, wrote in a statement emailed to Reuters Health that "we take the findings in this report seriously and hope the researches will share additional details with us. After we have had time to review the study, we will take any necessary corrective action to ensure our policies are being followed."

Many of the alcohol vendors in the study exclusively sell wine.

Tom Wark, the executive director of the Specialty Wine Retailers Association, said "just like brick-and-mortar stores, online retailers of alcohol have to be more careful and more rigorous in terms of how they monitor sales that come into their websites."

But Wark took issue with the suggestion that minors are buying wine online in real-world settings.

The process can take one to two weeks, it includes substantial delivery charges, "and then I have to hope my parents aren't around when it's delivered," Wark told Reuters Health. "It's more expensive, very difficult to carry out and much easier to get alcohol in other ways."

Wagenaar said studies have shown that when laws are enforced and retail stores are monitored, about 15 to 20 percent of brick-and-mortar outlets will continue to sell to minors.

When laws are not enforced, as many as 75 to 80 percent of offline stores will sell to minors, he said.

"I think we need policy reform to restrict youth access to alcohol online," said Williams. "Very little policy attention has been given to this industry compared to the Internet tobacco industry."

"Furthermore, substantial restrictions to youth access can be achieved by FedEx and UPS revising and enforcing their own policies," she added.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/JhG9n5 Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, online May 7, 2012.

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Problems Alcohol Can Help You Solve

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Drug, Alcohol Abuse Common Among U.S. Teens, Study Finds

HealthDay – 21 mins ago MONDAY, April 2 (HealthDay News) -- Alcohol and drug use is common among American teens and more than 15 percent of them meet the criteria for substance abuse, a new study finds.

"Once again, we are reminded that in most instances experimentation with alcohol and drugs begins during adolescence," said Bruce Goldman, director of Substance Abuse Services at The Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, N.Y.

"Unfortunately, many youth are at risk of developing abuse and dependency problems due to factors including genetic predisposition, environmental availability, school difficulties, social/family problems and co-occurring psychiatric or behavioral disorders," added Goldman, who was not involved in the new study.

In the study, Joel Swendsen, of the University of Bordeaux in France, and colleagues analyzed data from a U.S. survey of more than 10,000 teens between the ages of 13 and 18. They found that more than 78 percent of the oldest teens had consumed alcohol, about 47 percent consumed at least 12 drinks a year, and about 15 percent met the criteria for alcohol abuse.

The study also found that 81.4 percent of the oldest teens reported the opportunity to use illicit drugs, 42.5 percent used drugs, and 16.4 percent were drug abusers.

The median age when teens started substance use was 14 for regular alcohol use or abuse with or without dependence, 14 for drug abuse with dependence, and 15 for drug abuse without dependence.

"Because the early onset of substance use is a significant predictor of substance use behavior and disorders in a lifespan, the public health implications of the current findings are far-reaching," the team wrote in the April issue of the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.

More must be done to make sure youth don't start out early on the road to substance abuse, Goldman said.

"It is imperative that families, schools, police, youth groups, and communities all join together to prevent or delay the onset of substance use as long as possible," he said. "Social norms have a very powerful impact on drug-use patterns. We need to create norms where substance use and availability, especially for young people, is not acceptable."

That means giving young people the resources to fight back, Goldman added. "Effective early intervention needs to be universally available to youth that are found to be using substance," he said.

More information

The U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism offers advice on parenting to prevent childhood alcohol use.

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