Gin is Not Always the Tonic for What Ails

Gin. Beware of gin. This report from St. Luke's Hospital, Guildford, Surrey, UK, explains:

"LUNCHTIME GIN AND TONIC A CAUSE OF REACTIVE HYPOGLYCÆMIA", Stephen J.D. O'Keefe [pictured here — his is now in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania] , Vincent Marks, The Lancet, Volume 309, Issue 8025, 18 June 1977, Pages 128-8. The authors write:

"10 healthy young subjects drank, on three separate occasions, the equivalent of three gin and tonics containing 50 g alcohol and 60 g sucrose, gin and 'Slimline' tonic containing 50 g alcohol and 0·5 g sucrose, or tonic alone containing 60 g sucrose. Their behaviour, symptoms, blood-glucose, and plasma-insulin were monitored for 5 hours. Both of the alcohol-containing drinks caused mild-to-moderate inebriation, but gin and slimline tonic had no significant effect on either blood-glucose or plasma-insulin levels. Gin and tonic provoked a greater insulinæmia and more profound reactive hypoglycæmic response than tonic alone, and in 3 of the subjects this was associated with the appearance of neuroglycopenic symptoms."

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