Mixing Alcohol and Energy Drinks Leads to Binge Drinking

Mixing alcohol and energy drinks can increase risk of binge drinking in young people, a new study from Australia shows.

Combing alcohol and energy drinks is trendy, but carries a lot of risk. According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, a combination of Energy Drink plus alcohol can lead to something called "wide awake drunkenness", where people are drunk, but don't feel that they are because of the caffeine in the body which is keeping them awake. As a result people tend to drink more alcohol than they would if they hadn't mixed it with energy drinks.

The present study was conducted by researchers at the Australian National University's Centre for Research on Ageing, Health and Well-being.

"A number of cross-sectional studies show that young adults who mix alcohol with energy drinks (A+ED) have higher levels of alcohol consumption than their peers who don't mix energy drinks with alcohol, and some studies suggest that this practice increases the risk of 'binge drinking,'" explained Rebecca McKetin, a fellow at the Australian National University's Centre for Research on Ageing, Health and Well-being.

For the study, researchers recruited 75 participants of which 46 were women and 29 men. Participants were aged between 18 and 30 years and were given alcohol-only or A+ED drink. Researchers tried to find which group was more likely to want to drink more alcohol.

"We found that when people drink A+EDs that they have a stronger desire to keep drinking than if they drank alcohol on its own," said McKetin in a news release. "This would mean that someone who drinks A+EDs would want to keep drinking more than their friends who don't."

Researchers said that other factors too could influence the desire to drink more alcohol. However, the study finds a direct association between drinking a mix of ED plus alcohol and an increase in the urge to drink more alcohol.

Researchers cautioned that they used low levels of alcohol and caffeinated beverages for their study. In real life, teenagers and young adults drink high quantities of both beverages.  

The study is published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

Other risks associated with mixing drinks include irregular heartbeat, dehydration, severe hangovers, alcohol poisoning and even death.