A study conducted by Wake Forest University School of Medicine found that college students who mix "energy drinks" with alcohol are twice as likely to get hurt, require medical attention, ride with a drunk driver, take advantage or be taken advantage of someone sexually as compared to those who did not mix the liquid stimulates with alcohol.
Some 4,271 students from 10 universities answered approximately 300 questions each in a web-based survey about their alcohol use. Researchers attribute the increase in injuries and poor judgment to the fact that energy drinks can mask the symptoms of drunkeness but not all that comes with high blood alcohol content - reduced motor skills and slowed reaction times.
Energy drinks contain as much as 300 milligrams of caffeine in a serving, where as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) limits caffeine to 65 milligrams per serving of a food or beverage. Currently, energy drinks remain unregulated.
Comments
John Pavlus
says:
Then again, Red Bull also contains inositol, or "meat sugar," which sounds disgusting but is actually good for you (albeit in huger doses than what you get in RB).
I'm sure that's totally cancelled by the booze, of course.
November 5, 2007 10:28 AM
Maia Szalavitz
says:
It is also a possibility that those who drink energy drinks plus booze are doing so because they are already planning to engage in strenuous activity and so the energy drink use is a marker, not a cause.
one could test this experimentally presumably...
November 5, 2007 12:51 PM
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