A study from North Carolina's Wake Forest University is reporting that mixing energy drinks with alcohol can masked the intoxication level in a person.
The study which questioned over 4,000 US students found that those who energy "cocktails" were more likely to be injured, require medical help, drive drunk, drive with someone that was drunk or were twice as likely to take advantage of or be taken advantage of sexually.
It's become the newest fad to mix energy drinks, which contain high levels of caffiene and other stimulants, with alcohol such as vodka.
Lead researcher Dr Mary Claire O'Brien said: "We were surprised that the risk of serious and potentially deadly consequences is so much higher for those who mixed energy drinks with alcohol." O'Brien stated that the problem is that people who consume energy drinks mixed with alcohol don't realize how drunk they really are.
"Students whose motor skills, visual reaction times, and judgment impaired by alcohol may not perceive that they are intoxicated as readily when they're also ingesting a stimulant. 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" stated O'Brien.
This study confirms one released in March by a Brazilian team of researchers. That study was published in "Alcoholism" Clinical and Experimental Research". That research also showed a "considerable disconnect" between the subjects' perceptions and objective measures of their abilities.
[Source: BBC News]
» More Energy Drink Health Problems from PharmaGazette
In a previous article there was news about how Energy Drinks Mask Alcohol Intoxication but now researchers are saying that it might also increase blood pressure and heart rate.Researchers at Wayne State University found that energy drinks could po... [Read More]
Tracked on: November 8, 2007 12:20 PM | Permalink to Trackback