We all like to drink and sometimes more than we should, but it wasn’t until I was at a party where one of my friends was making jokes about his beer belly, the same day as my alcohol biochem lecture I had an ah ha moment. Now many of us one here I believe are trying to live a healthier life style, but i think many of us like to let loose (drink excessively) occasionally which can be dangerous especially those of us following a keto lifestyle. I’ll try to give you all the short version.
According to the lecture drinking alcohol increases NADH which causes inhibition of lipid oxidation (fat burning) which will contribute to fatty liver disease. With lipolysis inhibited and the calories literally pouring in your liver will slowly be compromised causing the beer belly.
Now those of us on Keto should have pretty healthy liver functions, but this next revelation made me put my drink down at the party. Since the acylCoA created from alcohol consumption can’t enter the TCA cycle (carb to energy cycle) because it is gummed up from the NADH the only thing your body can do with the AcylCoA is to push it into the ketone synthesis which can cause ketoacidosis. So someone already in ketosis may have a higher risk of this happening.
My third revelation came to me at the party as I realized I hadn’t eaten anything all day and had worked out earlier (it was a busy day). My body was performing GNG (fat > carbs) to bring my blood sugar up, but if I started binge drinking like my friends wanted I could have easily gone hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) due to the fact that GNG intermediates are diverted to other pathways thanks again to high NADH levels from the alcohol. This means no glucose is being generated essentially putting you into diabetic shock.
So to all of you out there that like to drink alcohol on occasion be mindful of how much you drink, and eat something first. However I think i’m just going to avoid it.