Fight A DUI

Having your alcohol with a sugar free artificial sweetened mixer may cut calories, but it will also cause your blood alcohol levels to spike unusually high, a recent study shows.

The findings, published in the September issue of the American Journal of Medicine, are based on an experiment with eight healthy young men. The volunteers had their blood alcohol levels measured repeatedly in each of two conditions: once after having a vodka beverage made with a sugary mixer, and once after drinking the same amount of vodka with an artificially sweetened mixer. The researchers also used ultrasound tests to measure each volunteer’s rate of stomach emptying after having the drink.

They found that with the diet mixer, the men’s stomachs emptied about 15 minutes sooner than when they drank the regular mixer, and that blood alcohol levels peaked at around the same time - 30 minutes after having the drink - regardless of which mixer was used. The difference, however, was that alcohol levels surged higher with the low-calorie mixer (to 0.05 percent, on average, versus 0.03 percent with the naturally sweetened mixer).

In many jurisdictions, the difference between having two drinks artificially sweetened drinks and two naturally sweetened drinks could mean the difference between a DUI and a safe drive home. Also notable is that women’s BAC generally soars higher than men, and that women are generally more likely to drink diet mixers in order to cut calories, making them especially susceptible to unexpectedly high BAC levels.