Health Issues
Energy Drinks and Alcohol Bad Mix for Students, Club Kids
By Ross von Metzke

Nov 6, 2007

It’s become known as the club pick me up—mix your Vodka with some Red Bull and cruise off toward the dance floor. But new research suggests the cocktail, which has become a staple on college campuses and at clubs across the country, is hazardous to your health.  

The study, conducted by the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, suggests that students who consume energy drinks mixed with alcohol are twice as likely to suffer an alcohol related injury. They’re also twice as likely to ride with an intoxicated driver, Fox News reports.  

“We knew anecdotally—from speaking with students, and from researching internet blogs and Web sites—that college students mix energy drinks and alcohol in order to drink more, and to drink longer," said Dr. Mary Claire O'Brien, lead researcher and associate professor of emergency medicine and public health sciences at Wake Forest, in a news release. "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."  

The study also suggests that the mix of alcohol and energy drinks like Red Bull and Monster and so many others like them on the mark puts people at greater risk for having unsafe sex. On college campuses, the study found female students were at greater risk for sexual assault.  

The study comes as a new wave of caffeinated alcohol brands are hitting the market, something the study did not specifically test but that other studies have indicated are equally hazardous to your health.  

According to O’Brien, the findings didn’t surprise her—she told the Associated Press energy drink companies typically flaunt non-essential ingredients like ginseng, which some companies claim enhances libido. She compared mixing the two to getting into a car and hitting the gas pedal and the brake at the same time, the report said.  

The FDA reports that caffeine should be limited to 65 milligrams per serving of food or beverage. Energy drinks aren’t regulated by the FDA and, according to the study, can contain as much as 300 milligrams of caffeine per serving.  

O’Brien and her team reported their findings at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association in Washington, D.C. over the weekend.