According to a new study out of Northern Kentucky University, if you mix your alcohol with diet soda, you actually get drunk faster than if you mix it with regular soda.  So Jack-and-Diet is actually more potent than Jack-and-Coke.

In the study, people who had a drink using Diet Coke as a mixer had average blood-alcohol levels of .091.  People who had the same amount of the same liquor mixed with regular Coke averaged .077.  That’s an 18% difference.

The researchers say it happens because the sugar in regular soda slows down how fast you absorb alcohol.  Since there’s no sugar in diet soda, there’s nothing in the way of you getting drunk.