Energy drinks and alcohol equals a bad combination.
According to the Reuters, a new study revealed that college students who drink energy beverages are more likely to drink more alcohol and claim that consuming both in the same day can result in negative consequences.
The Food and Drug Administration banned the sale of pre-mixed alcoholic energy drinks such as Four Loco, stating they're unsafe, but it has become easier for college students to mix their own, Reuters reported.
Megan Patrick, a research assistant professor at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan and co-author of the new study, stated the researchers were interested in how using "energy drinks effects alcohol use" and its consequences.
"We wanted to compare days college students used both energy drinks and alcohol to days they used only alcohol," Megan Patrick told Reuters Health by email.
Researchers used 744 university students, within seven semesters and collected data on the use of alcohol and energy drinks. Students were asked how much energy drink were consumption with and without alcohol then asked the number of alcoholic drinks they drank the day before. Included in the study was information on gender, body weight and length of drinking time to calculate blood alcohol levels.
"Just over 80 percent of students drank alcohol, and 51 percent consumed at least one energy drink during the study," Reuters reported. "Thirty percent admitted to using energy drinks and alcohol on the same day at least one time."
Students were more likely to get drunk and report negative consequences on days that they consumed energy drinks. The study also found that men consumed a greater number of drinks.
"We found that college students tended to drink more heavily, become more intoxicated, and have more negative drinking consequences on days they used both energy drinks and alcohol, compared to days they only used alcohol," Patrick said. "It's important for consumers to be aware the mixing energy drinks with alcohol, even on the same day, may lead to more serious alcohol-related consequences."
Patrick said it comes with serious health impacts, such as someone wanting to drive home not realizing they are intoxicated, but the study did not "prove that drinking caffeinated beverages causes young adults to drink more alcohol and suffer more consequences" but people who drink more are greater risk takers.
"It appears that the consumption of caffeinated alcoholic beverages has a direct effect on increasing risk by masking intoxication and making it easier for youth to consume more alcohol. It also appears that consumption of alcohol with caffeine may itself be a marker for youth who engage in riskier behavior," Dr. Michael Siegel told Reuters Health in an email.
The study was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
