Doctor Explains Why Mixing Your Booze With Diet Coke Will Get You Drunk Faster Than Regular Coca-Cola

Diet Coke sits on a store shelf on Dec. 9, 2013, in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

A TikToker by the name of Loryn Powell recently put a hypothesis to the test by experimenting to see whether mixing liquor with the diet version of Coca-Cola will get you drunk faster than using standard Coke as your mixer.

Powell drank four glasses of Jack Daniel’s mixed with Coke and on did the same with Diet Coke on (presumably) a different day and measured her innebriation with a breathalyzer 30 minutes after consuming the drinks.

After drinking Jack and Coke, she had a 0.061% BAC, while the Jack and Diet Coke elevated her to 0.086%. After waiting an additional 30 minutes, her BAC showed up as 0.051% BAC after the Coke drink — a 0.01% decrease — but after waiting that second half-hour period of time on the Diet Coke day, her BAC had actually increased to 0.088% BAC.

TikToker and doctor Karan Raj posted a video to shed light on the phenomenon:

@dr.karanr DIET COKE V REGULAR COKE @lorynpowell ♬ Cornfield Chase – Hans Zimmer

Raj, the English National Health Service surgeon with 5 million TikTok followers, explained that the difference comes down to the contrasting sugar contents of the sodas.

The sugar in regular Coke, Raj said, slows the absorption of alcohol, a concept simiar to how you’ll get drunk less quickly if you eat on a full stomach. Diet Coke doesn’t have that same sugar concept, so the alcohol gets into your bloodstream faster.

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