Alcohol is Probably a Human Dietary Requirement

submitted by raven9 from self.Health

Alcohol is Probably a Human Dietary Requirement, the lack of which causes diabetes.

Humans have been drinking alcohol for thousands of years especially during meals and as such it is embedded in much of the worlds historical culture. I think it stands to reason that anything that has been a dietary norm for so long surely had to have been a part of human dietary evolution to the point where it is probably now a requirement yet our medical establishment demonizes alcohol consumption.

I learned something about alcohol by pure chance many years ago when my aunt was diagnosed with diabetes. As she rarely drank alcohol, when she had a few glasses of wine at a family wedding she ended up in hospital. That happened because she had not known alcohol would cause a drop in her blood sugar so when that was combined with her insulin shot it caused her blood sugar level to bottom out.

You might notice, doctors never mention that alcohol does that, so anyway I thought I would compare countries by their rates of diabetes and alcohol consumption. So check this out.

These are the top 25 countries with the highest rates of diabetes per capita in the world together with their world ranking by alcohol consumption out of 189 countries. For example, Pakistan tops the list with the highest rate of diabetes in the world but it is ranked 180th by alcohol consumption. So you see by looking down the list, these 25 countries with highest rates of diabetes are all countries with some of the lowest rates of alcohol consuption in the world.

Pakistan  180
Kuwait  186
New Caledonia   NA
Nauru  98
Mauritius  128
Kiribati  178
Egypt  178
Tuvalu  152
Solomon Islands  156
Qatar    146
Malaysia     165
Sudan    173
Saudi Arabia  183
Fiji     134
Mexico  91
Papua New Guinea  160
United Arab Emirates    125
Vanuatu  162
Jordan   169
Tonga    155
Syrian Arab Republic     181
Turkey  148
Belize  88
Bangladesh  185

So next look at the top 25 countries for the highest rates of alcohol consumption in the world together with their world diabetes rankings. For example Moldova has the highest level of alcohol consumption in the world and is ranked 141 in the world for diabetes. Similarly you can see from all the rest of the 25 countries that drink the most alcohol per capita, most did not even make it into the top 100 for diabetes.

Moldova  141
Lithuania  134
Czech Republic  98
Seychelles  81
Germany   104
Nigeria   175
Ireland   181
Luxembourg  132
Latvia  132
Bulgaria  93
France  156
Romania   114
Slovenia  134
Portugal  65
Belgium  175
Russia   141
Austria   165
Estonia  114
Poland  106
Gabon  147
Slovakia  134
Switzerland  165
Hungary   102
United Kingdom  123
Andorra  58

I sincerely doubt this is a coincidence and I am sure big pharma knows damn well if everyone drank wine or beer with their meals, the global diabetes epidemic would be decimated but they will never admit that because diabetes medication is one of their fattest cash cows.

Sources https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/indicators/SH.STA.DIAB.ZS/rankings

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_alcohol_consumption_per_capita

all 10 comments
sorted by:
top
newinsightfulfun

[–][deleted] 5 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

Alcohol regulates blood sugar.

You might notice, doctors never mention that alcohol does that

It's in the literature. The sugar cravings heavy drinkers get when we quit is well known and related.

if everyone drank wine or beer with their meals, the global diabetes epidemic would be decimated

It introduces other problems, and I don't think most people realize exactly how much worse women tolerate alcohol. My third friend (Dot) is at that place where it's never drink again or die. Two are dead and I'm worried about a fourth.

[–]raven9[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Yeah drinking to get drunk every night like alcohol consumption is a hobby is not good for anyones health but if you noticed when have a glass of wine with a meal or a pint of beer and you hardly even notice the alcohol. It is a different experience entirely.

[–]jet199 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Yep, also in the past the alcohol people drank outside of meals was much lower percentage. Light ales or wine with water. 3% or less.

[–]send_nasty_stuff 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I didn't believe you at first and then I stumbled onto this paper

https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1475-2891-9-14

The mechanism is not fully undestood so I'd still be careful with alcohol for weight loss. Brewers yeast can cause weight gain because it increases uric acid. There's also a ton of sugar in many alcoholic drinks. Beer is like liquid bread. The alcohol itself is prioritized in the liver and needs dealt with quickly so if you mismanage your alcohol consumption you could develop fatty liver disease. Robert Lustig found that children with heavy processed sugar diets developed fatty liver syndrome the same way alcoholics did.

So I think that you probably made this post in good faith but someone who is morbidly obese and has health issues isn't going to magically benefit from alcohol with meals. I think that someone with an already healthy digestive system with low sugar and low seed oil diet and a healthy liver could consume alcohol with meals to lower insulin even further.

If you want safer ways to lower insulin at meals I can give you 10.

Consume vinegar before during or after the meal.

Consume lemon juice or other acidic food before during or after the meal.

Consume more clean water before during or after the meal.

Do a short stint of vigorous (90 seconds of body weight squats for example) exercise before or after the meal

Consume Berberine before during or after the meal.

Take a cold shower before or after the meal.

Go for a low intensity cardio session (like walking) after a meal.

Eat the fatty or protein rich part of the meal first. Save the surgery and carby part of the meal for the middle or end.

Increase quality fats in the meal.

Increase fermented foods in the meal (sour kraut, keffir, etc).

[–]RuckusChan 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

They don't like people making natural homebrew that's what ATF is for and are pushing weed Artificial Cannabis Sythn Plant as the next cool thing.

[–]Rastafoo 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

LMAO - this extrapolation belongs on s/whatever ~ not on the health board

[–]raven9[S] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

Sure. And your troll comment belongs on reddit but what are you gonna do. I came here to get away from you people because here they promised a pyramid of debate but apparently no one bothers to enforce it so here we are. People like me try to support this forum by posting original content for discussion with reason and statistics and people like you posting troll comments. Some things never change no matter where you go.

[–]Rastafoo 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Ironic you immediately resort to insults then whine "what about pyramid of debate" ~ hypocrisy thy name is raven

[–]ShekelPa 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I would be more interested if there are empirical studies that have explored the causal relationship between alcohol and diabetes.

[–]raven9[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

No one would publish it. If the public realized all they need to do is what people did for thousands of years and drank some wine or beer with their food it would cost big pharma billions.

For the longest time there have been health articles that mentioned low rates of heart disease and diabetes in France along with the predictable 'bUt wE dOnT kNoW wHy' conclusion. Of course they know why. It is for the same reason I discussed in this post. The French are famous for their cultural tradition of having wine with their main meal but no one wants to admit that is the reason for their heart health because it might derail big pharma's multi billion dollar diabetes and heart disease market not to mention how much it would infuriate the bible belt. You can see on the list, France is one of the lowest in the world for diabetes but they are 11th in the world for alcohol consumption.