Throwing back Jägerbombs and sipping Red Bull and vodka may do more than leave you with a nasty hangover, according to a recent UF study that says combining energy drinks and alcohol creates a dangerous cocktail.
Researchers found that students who mixed energy drinks with alcohol were three times more likely to leave a bar intoxicated.
They were also four times more likely to intend to drive after drinking compared to those who drank alcohol not mixed with an energy drink, according to the study.
“When caffeine is mixed with alcohol it overcomes the sedating effects of alcohol, and people may perceive that they are less intoxicated than they really are,” said Dennis Thombs, the study’s lead researcher, in a press release. “This may lead people to drink more or make uninformed judgments about whether they are safe to drive.”
Bruce Goldberger, co-author of the study, said the study is the first to evaluate the effects of alcohol mixed with energy drinks in a bar rather than a research facility.
Researchers waited outside midtown bars between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. and interviewed 800 bar patrons as they left to determine their drinking history and intoxication level, Goldberger said.
The average breath alcohol concentration for the 6.5 percent of study participants who reported mixing alcohol and energy drinks was 0.109 percent, well above the legal driving limit of 0.08 percent, according to the study. Research did not include the levels of people who did not mix alcohol with energy drinks.
The researchers found that students who mixed energy drinks with alcohol also left bars later at night, drank for longer periods of time and ingested more grams of ethanol, according to the study.
The study, funded by UF’s Office of the President, will appear in the April issue of the journal Addictive Behaviors.
Goldberger said he does not think most students realize the harm associated with mixing energy drinks and alcohol. He said the researchers have plans to do additional studies to determine why there are changes in behavior when students combine the two liquids.
Brooke Marsh, a UF political science senior, said the results of the research sound accurate. While she does drink a lot of energy drinks, she never mixes them with alcohol, but she has many friends who do.
“It’s like they’re super hyper and drunk at the same time,” she said.
