mcsblues
05-25-2006, 08:37 PM
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/532993
Artificial Sweeteners Speed Alcohol Into Blood
By Martha Kerr
LOS ANGELES (Reuters Health) May 23 - Alcoholic drinks made with artificial sweeteners lead to a high rate of alcohol absorption. The result is a greater blood alcohol peak and a much greater area under the time-concentration curve for blood alcohol than from drinks made with sugar-based mixers.
The reason, Australian investigators told attendees at Digestive Disease Week 2006, is the accelerated gastric emptying caused by artificial sweetening agents.
Dr. Chris Rayner and colleagues at Royal Adelaide Hospital studied eight healthy male volunteers. On one day, subjects consumed an orange-flavored vodka drink, containing 30 g ethanol in 600 mL made with a sucrose-sweetened mixer with an energy content of 478 kcal. On the second day, the men drank the same amount of alcohol in a diet mixer containing 225 kcal.
The researchers measured gastric emptying using ultrasound. Blood samples were taken at 30-minute intervals for three hours.
Gastric half-emptying took 15.3 minutes with the diet drink and 21.1 minutes with the sucrose-sweetened drink.
Peak ethanol concentration in the blood was 0.053 g% with the diet drink and 0.034 g% with the regular drink.
The area under the curve was 5.2 units over the 180-minute period with the artificial sweetener versus 3.2 units with the sucrose-sweetened drink.
"It was surprising how much of a difference the artificial sweetener made," Dr. Rayner commented during his presentation.
"People tend to consume more because of the lower calorie content," he told Reuters Health. "These drinks also tend to be consumed at times other than meal times, when food would slow gastric emptying."
The findings have public health significance, Dr. Rayner said. He recommended that product labeling should include information on the intoxicating qualities of artificially sweetened alcoholic drinks. There could be legal implications for those driving home, as well, he noted.
This is interesting (and perhaps worrying) for anyone who uses diet mixers (can't stand them myself). A lot of people report that adopting a low carb WOL makes them a cheap drunk, at least for a while ... and perhaps this explains it.
I never felt the impact at all ... but perhaps it is because I had long since stopped using high sugar mixers to spoil perfectly good spirits! :cool:
Artificial Sweeteners Speed Alcohol Into Blood
By Martha Kerr
LOS ANGELES (Reuters Health) May 23 - Alcoholic drinks made with artificial sweeteners lead to a high rate of alcohol absorption. The result is a greater blood alcohol peak and a much greater area under the time-concentration curve for blood alcohol than from drinks made with sugar-based mixers.
The reason, Australian investigators told attendees at Digestive Disease Week 2006, is the accelerated gastric emptying caused by artificial sweetening agents.
Dr. Chris Rayner and colleagues at Royal Adelaide Hospital studied eight healthy male volunteers. On one day, subjects consumed an orange-flavored vodka drink, containing 30 g ethanol in 600 mL made with a sucrose-sweetened mixer with an energy content of 478 kcal. On the second day, the men drank the same amount of alcohol in a diet mixer containing 225 kcal.
The researchers measured gastric emptying using ultrasound. Blood samples were taken at 30-minute intervals for three hours.
Gastric half-emptying took 15.3 minutes with the diet drink and 21.1 minutes with the sucrose-sweetened drink.
Peak ethanol concentration in the blood was 0.053 g% with the diet drink and 0.034 g% with the regular drink.
The area under the curve was 5.2 units over the 180-minute period with the artificial sweetener versus 3.2 units with the sucrose-sweetened drink.
"It was surprising how much of a difference the artificial sweetener made," Dr. Rayner commented during his presentation.
"People tend to consume more because of the lower calorie content," he told Reuters Health. "These drinks also tend to be consumed at times other than meal times, when food would slow gastric emptying."
The findings have public health significance, Dr. Rayner said. He recommended that product labeling should include information on the intoxicating qualities of artificially sweetened alcoholic drinks. There could be legal implications for those driving home, as well, he noted.
This is interesting (and perhaps worrying) for anyone who uses diet mixers (can't stand them myself). A lot of people report that adopting a low carb WOL makes them a cheap drunk, at least for a while ... and perhaps this explains it.
I never felt the impact at all ... but perhaps it is because I had long since stopped using high sugar mixers to spoil perfectly good spirits! :cool: