Warning: Don't Mix Energy Drinks with Alcohol

People who drink alcohol along with energy drinks have a higher risk to suffer injuries, compared to those who don`t mix energy drinks with alcohol, according to Wake Forest University School of Medicine researchers.

Those who combine alcohol and energy drinks, most of them students, are twice more likely to need medical attention and get in the car with an intoxicated driver, compared to other students who consume normal alcohol beverages.

College students usually mix alcohol beverages with energy drinks in order to drink more and for a longer period, according to Dr. Mary Claire O`Brien, lead author of the study.

The study included almost 4,300 students from ten universities. The participants were asked different questions regarding their alcohol consumption, consequences, and other health behaviors.

The results showed that twenty-four percent of the students who reported alcohol consumption in the past thirty days, mixed alcohol with energy beverages. Many of them reported an increased rate of weekly drunkenness episodes and higher number of drinks per episode.

Caffeine is the main ingredient in energy drinks. The mixture between a strong stimulant such as caffeine and a depressant like alcohol is like pushing the brake and stepping on the gas pedal in the same time, said Dr. O`Brien. Students` visual reaction times, judgment, and motor skills are impaired by alcohol, but when a stimulant is ingested, the students may not realize they are intoxicated.

When a stimulant is consumed next to alcohol beverages, the consumer can`t tell whether he or she is drunk or if someone else is. The stimulants can only reduce the symptoms of drunkenness, not the drunkenness.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that people consume no more than sixty-five milligrams per serving of a product. The FDA didn`t regulated energy drinks so far, so they may contain up to 300 milligrams of caffeine per serving.