Failure to induce reactive hypoglycaemia by drinking a starch-based alcohol beverage (sorghum beer)

Alcohol is a well-recognised cause of fasting hypoglycaemia but may also provoked reactive hypoglycaemia when drunk together with a carbohydratee mixer. In this study the ability of sorghum beer (an 'in-built' alcohol-starch beverage widely enjoyed in Southern Africa) to induce reactive hypoglycaemia was compared with "gin and tonic' in eight non-obese health African men. After an overnight fast, each subject drank, in random sequence on their different occasions, 2 litres of sorghum beer (carbohydrat content approximately 5% and alcohol concentration 2.24 g/dl-2.8% v/v), the same volume of a control solution providing a similar carbohydrate load, or a gin and standard tonic water mixture. No evidence of reactive hypoglycaemia was apparent during the 5 hours after the beginning of the sorghum beer tolerance tests, despite a mean peak blood alcohol level reaching 80 mg/dl. both the peak and total plasma insulin responses were significantly reduced (p less than or equal to 0.05) when compared to the brisk responses elicited by the carbohydrate solution alone and the gin and tonic drinks, with consequent hypoglycaemia. These data suggest that African home-brews are not potent causes of reactive hypoglycaemia, although they may be implicated in the development of ethanol-induced hypoglycaemia in the fasting state.