Since alcohol lowers your blood sugar, can't it help you lose weight if you are on a low-carb unrestricted calorie diet? Of course I am not talking about getting drunk every day to lose weight, not at all. I'm saying taking maybe a shot of straight hard liquor (plain, no added sugar) 2 or three times throughout the day. Scientifically speaking, wouldn't that help give your weight loss a boost?

EDIT: If you took a shot of liquor about 15 minutes before eating a meal, wouldn't that be most beneficial, as your body would want to use up any carbs or sugars you eat in order to level out your blood sugar?

If someone could tell me why this theory is right or wrong, I'd greatly appreciate it!

Interesting. I'm knowledgeable in relation to alcohol metabolism but not in relation to low intake for dietary purposes. I'll have to go to the books...

My first thought is that hard liquor is a gastrointestinal irritant (40% ethanol) but then again rum and whiskey was a dietary staple for 250 years in early America, and consumed with each meal.

As a physiologist I should probably have this answer at hand but my focus has always been excessive consumption. Will look into it however.

Are you male or female?

Female. Thanks for any help you can provide! I do appreciate you taking the time to help me!

Another point: if consuming less than 20g of carbs a day, couldn't a small amount of alcohol even cause you to dip into stored reserves to level out the blood sugar thereby causing slightly more weight loss, even when factoring in meals? I mentioned doing this before meals above, but if the carb intake is at 20g or less in a day, would it be feasible to not be consuming enough carbs in a meal to compensate for the lowered blood sugar, thus making the body need to dip into reserves thereby causing a slight increase in burned reserves and slightly more weight loss? I'm not sure of the exact equation you'd use to figure how many g of carbs will raise blood sugar x amount, or how much liquor would be needed to create enough of a dip in blood sugar.

Would the regualar need to make up for the lowered blood sugar create a healthy pattern in the body? In other words, get the metabolism up and get it used to needing to be a bit higher?

First do no harm. The benefits of moderate alcohol consumption have been scientifically established. Candidly, I wasn't fully aware of the extent of research on the subject. However, the consensus is that 1-3 drinks per day is helpful to any diet. Therefore, pursuit of your idea can only be of benefit. Providing of course good health and no specific contraindications to alcohol use. Following is a link to a comprehensive article on the benefits of moderate drinking.

Alcohol And Health After reading this I rushed to the liquor cabinet, flushed with guilt for not taking better care of myself alcoholically.

Here is a little further breakdown: One standard drink is 13.7 grams (.6 oz), ethanol content, US standard. In beverage form this would be a 1.5 oz shot. The caloric content of ethanol is 7 per gram with the result, per drink:

Calories: 96
Carbs: 0 grams
Fat: 0 grams
Protein: 0 grams

You hadn't mentioned calories.

I will have to continue with this later this evening, sorry for the delay.

There is an age old formula to losing weight, its being tried and tested throughout history and known to work a treat...

Eat less, exercise more.

An alcoholic trying to lose weight would love your theory.

The calorie content in your shot should be taken in account not to mention the effect on your pancress, liver, stomach, brain,kidneys and any other organ to care to live without.

Well being that it's a low-carb diet, calories are basically unrestricted. It's just the type and effect of the calories that is of consideration. If the calories have little, no, or a negative effect on blood sugar then that's what's acceptable. Since alcohol has a negative effect, that is why I am wondering about this.

Oh, and thanks for your efforts to help me figure this out, I am absolutely appreciative that I have someone with your background to help out!

:) you are correct and I'd assume this is why no doctor or virtually anyone else will advise using alcohol for pretty much any reason! I am interested in this for both a diet AND a scientific reason... no moral influence, just scientific. Can very minor alcohol use cause a blood sugar drop sufficient enough to cause a burning of any carbs consumed AND dip into the body's stores. Being that it's very. Very minimal alcohol consumption, no harm is done.

Also: I am speaking specifically of an unrestricted calorie low-carb diet, so calories are no concern. It's the effect, type and source of the calories that is of concern. Since a low-carb diet wants to keep blood sugars low, and does NOT rstrict calories, is why I'm asking! Of course this wouldn't apply to just ANY diet. It's specific to a low-carb diet.

If this is for scientific purposes its in the wrong section, my fear would be if another poster looked at this and did not read the full thread they may be under the wrong impression and drink themselves sick.

Ill request that your thread be moved and leave it up to the mods to decide.

Two diets I am aware of that use such low levels of carbs are Atkins and South Beach. I looked up what they say about alcohol consumption:

Atkins
When you consume Alcohol, it is the first fuel to burn. While that's going on, your body will not burn fat. While this does not stop weight loss, it will postpone it until the alcohol has been used up. If you must drink alcohol, straight liquor such as scotch, rye, vodka, and gin would be the best choices as long as the mixer contains no sugar. If you have added alcohol to your diet and suddenly stop losing, give it up.
Atkins Diet FAQ's Frequently Asked Questions

South Beach
Alcoholic beverages contain few carbohydrates, but the reason Dr. Agatston doesn't allow them in Phase 1 is due to the way alcohol is converted by your body: It turns into sugar. This will cause your blood sugar to spike. Remember, the purpose of Phase 1 is to level out your blood sugar so cravings for "bad" carbs will subside and you'll begin losing weight.
South Beach Diet A to Z - When can Alcoholic Beverages be Consumed - Alcohol on The South Beach Diet - Beer Wine Liquor on the SBD

ETA: Your question is based on alcohol lowering blood sugar levels. I just did a Google search on "alcohol and blood sugar levels" and found numerous sites that claim just the opposite. I was interested in this question because my mother was a diabetic who found the Atkins diet regulated her blood sugar, but she avoided alcohol for the above reasons. Her doctor advised her to stay away from it other than the occasional glass of red wine.

Well it's up for scientific review, I'd say. I realize there is moral considerations to the question, but it's really just looking for a true scientific and nutritional answer on whether the theory is true or not. I'd think an alcoholic would already know that doing nothing else but drinking alcohol wouldn't help lose weight! It's also dependent on the TYPE of alcohol consumed-being a low carb diet, anything but unsweetened pure hard liquors would be acceptable-as any mixers would contain sugar likely (aside from a diet soda perhaps, which is OK). Beer is high in carbs, as is wine. Sugar alcohols metabolize very differently from regular simple and complex carbohydrates too, so it's a complicated question.

Yes, I am awae of this, that's why I specified straight, no sugars added, liquor. It's an absolute fact that alcohol lowers blood sugar-there is a reason why diabetics should NOT drink... I'm trying to figure out the in's and out's of moderate drinking of straight unsweetened liquors on a low-carb diet.

Alcohol SUGARS are considered by low-carb diets as acceptable. Look at the nutruition info on an Atkins bar. They are sweet, and much of the sweetness comes from alcohol sugars-which are NOT reported to have much, or any, effect on blood sugar.

I think it's scientifically safe to say alcohol lowers blood sugar or causes hypoglycemia, that's what any reputable scientific reviews say. Of all the links I could give you, this one is a better one as far as ease of understanding and general information, and is reputable. http://www.livestrong.com/article/28394-alcohol-affect-blood-sugar-levels/

Of course, all of this is assuming low or moderate alcohol intake, not heavy regular drinking... drinking any more than a couple drinks a day can have a negative impact on everything including diet and weight loss.

As I understand it your idea is basically one of compensation, energy exchange, that reduction of blood sugar will result in extracting energy from another source, adipose (fatty) tissue. The primary impediment would seem to be that adipose tissue is poorly vascularized. The circulatory avenues for the desired exchanges/extraction aren't there. That is morphology and independent of metabolism.

Second, metabolically, EtOH alters blood constituents, RBC size and count, and tends to impede blood flow at the capillaries. In other words at the point of uptake in an already sparse environment. The capillary impediment does seem to be dose dependent.

Looking to alcohol (EtOH) to precipitate lowering blood sugar and setting in process the chain reaction opens another and far more complex set of considerations. First is lexical but practical. Terms such as low, moderate, and heavy drinking are population averages and have no meaning when applied individually. Not only does EtOH metabolism vary between individuals, there are gender specific elements and the metabolic process actually changes based on volume and/or frequency of intake.

Of particular importance is a secondary metabolic pathway known as microbial ethanol oxidizing system (MEOS) . If the amount of EtOH is sufficient to induce MEOS then I believe that would interfere with the energy conversion process. So, much is dependent on the amount of alcohol, perhaps the frequency of intake, and at the molecular level (as opposed to averages). Here is one description of MEOS: Relationships Between Nutrition, Alcohol Use, and Liver Disease OS

On an individual basis these aren't particularly important. It's trial and error. Start with minimum intake and see if it works for you. Expanding the concept to wider application would seem to be confounded by all of the unpredictable variables that have perplexed alcohologists for centuries... Interindividual variability and what we don't know.

None of this relates to excessive drinking. Rather the thin line that exists between healthful consumption, as is recommended, and harmful drinking. I don't question the benefits of drinking moderate amounts. I only regret that definition of that practice has thus far avoided scientific consensus.

I realize this doesn't answer you original question. Hopefully it provides a couple pieces to the puzzle.

Thank you DrBill, I appreciate all of your time and effort! Very, very helpful!

Alcohol and caffeine should not be taken together with meals. It's best to wait for at least 2 hours after a meal and then satisfy the need for coffee/alcohol. The reason is, body always uses caffeine and alcohol as the first source of energy to burn, and so the calories you ingest from your meal are not burnt immediately. This, in turn, causes storage of these calories as glycogen stores or fat.

If you are already restricting your calorie intake, calories in your alcohol drink will not be stored as fat but instead, will be burnt to compensate for your calorie deficit.

Alcohol is not fat-burning, but has exactly the opposite properties such as promoting fat storage around the internal organs, mainly.

In brief, moderation is the key.