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Highland Heights, KY (KTNV) -- Drinks mixed with diet soda may be more kind to your waistline, but they may leave you more drunk than expected.

It's no secret soda can add calories to your diet. That's why many drinkers choose to mix alcohol with diet soda instead.

Alcohol with regular soda and alcohol with diet soda may look the same, but according to a new study, the way they impact your brain is very different.

"What we saw was that when you mix alcohol with a diet soft drink, you achieve a higher blood alcohol concentration, than you would with a regular soft drink mixer," said Cecile Marczinski, Northern Kentucky University researcher.

The study had college students drink about four vodka drinks with regular soda. They waited 40 minutes, gave them a breathalyzer test and they passed it.

But then on a different day, they had those students drink about the same drinks, but this time with diet soda. They saved 132 calories, but they failed the breathalyzer test. Because they were drinking diet soda, it was as if they were getting an extra shot of alcohol.

The diet drinkers didn't realize they were more drunk, but tests showed their responses were indeed more impaired.

Why would alcohol with diet soda get you more drunk faster?

"There's no sugar in the diet drink so it goes through the stomach a lot faster. The diet mixture kind of fast forwards the digestion process of sending the alcohol into the bloodstream," said Marczinski.

In other words, without the sugar, the alcohol goes to your head faster.

"You should probably mix your alcohol with a sugar sweeten mixture, as opposed to a diet one," explained Marczinski.

It may be extra calories, but you'll be drinking safer.