Does Mixing Alcohol With Diet Sodas Increase Intoxication?

(KMDL-FM) Hank Williams Jr recently played a concert in Lafayette, and in one of his hit songs, Family Tradition, one of the lyrics is "Why do you drink?" The crowd responds to that lyric by shouting, "to get drunk", and that brings us to our myth concerning increased inebriation when your mixer of choice is a diet soda.

Just for clarification, the myth about getting drunker faster with a diet soda is based on a comparison of mixing with a regular sugar-based soda. We all know that drinking the alcohol of choice straight with no mixer is the fastest way to poor choices and regrettable behavior. Okay, that's just me back when I used to drink.

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Is It the Alcohol or the Mixer That Makes You Drunker?

If you look at the chemistry of the conundrum, the underlying difference between the two mixers does come down to sugar. Diet sodas don't have it, and regular sodas have a lot of it. We know your body's chemistry will turn alcoholic beverages into sugar as part of the digestion process, so what gives?

Based on studies by cognitive psychologists, we are asking the question the wrong way. Instead of asking "Do diet sodas make you drunker?" we should be asking "Why do regular sodas keep you sober longer?"

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It's not the "diet soda that accelerates the intoxication," it is the sugar in the regular soda that slows down intoxication when alcohol is consumed with a sugar-based soda pop.

Diet Sodas Can Increase Your BAC Readings

Studies have shown that mixing alcohol with diet mixers as opposed to sugar-based mixers can affect your Blood Alcohol Concentration significantly. Remember, the BAC is what police check for at sobriety checkpoints. So, having your BAC spike because of a diet mixer could really enhance your ability to need a lawyer.

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Oddly enough, the study also suggested that those who consumed alcohol with both diet and sugar-based sodas did not express any difference in how they felt. In other words, they felt the "same buzz," but in reality, their BAC was actually higher after drinking a drink made with a diet soda.

Based on these findings, my conclusions, not the study's, seem to suggest that mixing a drink with a diet soda won't enhance your mood any more than a regular mixer might, but it could get you into trouble with the law should you choose to be stupid and drink and drive. Don't drink and drive, please.

To quote another Country Music legend, Merle Haggard, I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink, yeah, do that. Or you can mix up some of these Texas favorites; maybe it will make you feel like you're visiting some place different without getting behind the wheel.