Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online
When it comes to cocktails and other mixed drinks, a new study has found that using diet soft drinks as mixers can be making people more drunk than using regular sugary beverages. In one of the first-of-its-kind studies, researchers tested the effects that mixing sweet and non-sweetened soft drinks with alcohol has on breath-alcohol concentration (BrAC).
The study suggests that women are most at risk of getting more drunk (by as much as 20 percent), because they tend to be the ones who go for the diet soda most often when mixing drinks. This behavior is most likely associated with women who are keener on watching their waistlines.
While the study, to be published in the April 2013 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, only included a small set of individualseight men and eight womenthe results were pretty impressive.
A team of researchers, led by Cecile Marczinski of Northern Kentucky University (NKU), asked participants to come to the research lab on two separate days to test the effects of mixing sweet and non-sweetened beverages with alcohol.
During the first visit, the researchers gave the participants a vodka drink with a diet mixer and observed as they became intoxicated. On the next visit, the researchers offered the same drink, only this time mixed with a sugary beverage. During both visits, the mixed drinks had the potency of about four mixed drinks, ensuring the dose would produce favorable results for the team, as it has been shown in past studies that this amount is enough to raise the blood-alcohol level to the legal driving limit.
The researchers discovered that when drinking the sugar-free concoction, the participants became more intoxicated more quickly than when drinking the sugary mixed drink. And not only did they become drunk faster, but the sugar-free concoction sent them over the legal driving limit, whereas the sugary drink did not.
Surprisingly, the participants reported that they did not feel any more inebriated on the sugar-free version than they did on the sugary drink, and were just as likely to think they were sober enough to get behind the wheel.
What you choose to mix your alcohol with could possibly be the difference between breaking or not breaking the law, said Marczinski, assistant professor in the Department of Psychological Science at NKU.
The team used breath tests to monitor the BrAC levels in the participants. They also had them complete computer tasks to test their reaction times, mimicking what they might face while driving. Those drinking the diet concoction were slower to respond. The team said they would have had to add at least one more sugary drink mix to get participants to the same level they were at on the diet concoction.
Original post:
Diet Mixers Will Make You More Intoxicated Than Using Regular Soft Drinks
