By IANS
New York : Most cocktails are cool, but not all – especially those that mix alcohol with so-called “energy drinks”.
Energy drink cocktails put tipplers at dramatically higher risk of injury and other alcohol-related consequences, compared to those consuming plain alcohol, a new study has found.
The researchers found that students who consumed energy drink cocktails were twice as likely to be hurt or injured, twice as likely to require medical attention, and twice as likely to ride with an intoxicated driver, compared to students who did not consume alcohol mixed with energy drinks.
Students who drank alcohol mixed with energy drinks were more than twice as likely to take advantage of someone else sexually, and almost twice as likely to be taken advantage of sexually.
“We knew anecdotally – from speaking with students, and from researching Internet blogs and websites – that college students mix energy drinks and alcohol in order to drink more, and to drink longer,” said Mary Claire O’Brien, lead researcher on the study.
“But we were surprised that the risk of serious and potentially deadly consequences is so much higher for those who mixed energy drinks with alcohol, even when we adjusted for the amount of alcohol.”
Energy drink companies typically publicize non-essential ingredients like taurine, which is rumored to raise exercise capacity, and ginseng, which some claim enhances libido.
But the main ingredient in energy drinks is caffeine.
O’Brien says mixing caffeine (a stimulant) with alcohol (a depressant), is like getting into a car and stepping on the accelerator and the brake at the same time.
“Students whose motor skills, visual reaction times, and judgement are impaired by alcohol may not perceive that they are intoxicated as readily when they’re also ingesting a stimulant,” said O’Brien.
“Only the symptoms of drunkenness are reduced – but not the drunkenness. They can’t tell if they’re drunk; they can’t tell if someone else is drunk. So they get hurt, or they hurt someone else.”
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) limits caffeine to 65 milligrams per serving of a food or beverage. Since energy drinks are currently not regulated by the FDA, they can contain as much as 300 milligrams of caffeine in a single serving.