Artificially Sweetened Versus Regular Mixers Increase Gastric Emptying and Alcohol Absorption

Antral area (mean±standard deviation) after consumption of “regular” (filled circles, solid line) or “diet” (open circles, dashed line) mixed alcoholic drinks. The antral area at baseline is plotted as the first data point. The decrease in antral area is more rapid after the “diet” drink, indicative of faster gastric emptying (P <.001).

Blood ethanol concentration (mean±standard deviation) after consumption of “regular” (filled circles, solid line) or “diet” (open circles, dashed line) mixed alcoholic drinks. Both peak alcohol concentration and the area under the curve after the “diet” drink are greater (P <.001 for each).