Going out to Happy Hour this evening?  Well, if you’ve read recent media reports on a study about diet drinks and alcohol, some are trying to make your social gathering a little less “happy.”  But before you get distracted by sensational headlines, we wanted to make sure you had the facts.

Despite what you may read, this latest study – which, may we add, looked at only 16 people - does not show that mixing diet soft drinks with alcohol causes increased intoxication.

Let’s face the facts:  alcohol is what makes you intoxicated – not the non-alcoholic mixer you may choose to go along with it.  What this study does show, however, is the long known fact that consuming calories - from any food or beverage - along with alcohol slows down its impact.

So while we represent the many companies that make the myriad non-alcoholic beverage options available to you today, we’d like to leave our 21 and over readers with one piece of advice.  Whatever your libation of choice, be aware of the effects of alcohol should you choose to consume it – regardless of whether or not you consume it together with anything else.