Consuming
energy drinks mixed with alcohol could have the same effect on adolescents as
taking cocaine, according to a new study from a Purdue University.
Researchers at Purdue University, Indiana,
looked into the effects of highly caffeinated energy drinks and highly
caffeinated alcohol in adolescent mice.
The energy drinks can contain about 10 times the caffeine as regular
soda and are often marketed to young people – but little is known about their
health effects, especially when mixed with alcohol.
The team, led by Richard van Rijn, an
assistant professor of medicinal chemistry and molecular pharmacology, found
that the mice given high-caffeine energy drinks were not any more likely than
the control group to drink more alcohol as adults. However when the mice drank caffeine mixed
with alcohol, they behaved in a similar way and showed and neurochemical
signs similar to mice given cocaine. Mice
were used in lieu of human adolescents as changes in mouse brains due to drugs
have shown to correlate closely to humans in many drug studies.
“It seems the two substances together push
them over a limit that causes changes in their behavior and changes the
neurochemistry in their brains,” van Rijn said. “We’re clearly seeing effects of the
combined drinks that we would not see if drinking one or the other.” It was also found that the mice who had drank
more caffeinated alcohol in adolescence were less sensitive to the
“pleasurable” effects of cocaine. “Their
brains have been changed in such a way that they are more likely to abuse
natural or pleasurable substances as adults,” van Rijn concluded.
Read More at http://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2016/10/mixing-energy-drinks-and-alcohol-like-cocaine/
Here are some figures with the amount of caffeine per fluid ounce in many of the energy drinks that are available today.
| Eneregy Drink Brand | Caffeine /fl. oz. |
Eneregy Drink Brand | Caffeine /fl. oz. |
| 5-Hour Energy | 104.0 | Semtex | 9.5 |
| Street King (drink) | 35.7 | Shark Stimulation | 9.5 |
| Cocaine (drink) | 33.1 | Pussy | 9.5 |
| Beaver Buzz | 15.7 | Glacéau VitaminEnergy | 9.4 |
| Lipovitan | 14.8 | SoBe Adrenaline Rush | 9.2 |
| Rip It | 12.8 | AMP Energy | 9.2 |
| Crunk Energy Drink | 12.5 | Bacchus-F | 9.1 |
| Kore | 11.8 | Full Throttle | 9.0 |
| RELOAD | 11.8 | Tab Energy | 9.0 |
| Hell Energy | 10.8 | AMP Energy | 8.9 |
| Hype Energy | 10.8 | Red Rooster | 8.9 |
| Duff | 10.0 | Blue Charge | 8.9 |
| Monster Regular (Green) | 10.0 | Emerge Stimulation Drink | 8.9 |
| NOS | 10.0 | V | 8.6 |
| Rockstar | 10.0 | Enviga | 8.3 |
| XS Energy Drink | 9.9 | Bawls | 6.7 |
| Relentless | 9.6 | Jolt Cola | 6.0 |
| Red Bull | 9.6 | Club-Mate | 6.0 |
| Bomb Energy Drink | 9.6 | Mountain Dew MDX | 5.9 |
| Burn | 9.6 | Coca-Cola Blāk | 5.8 |
| Euro Shopper Energy Drink | 9.6 | Sparks (contains 6% ABV) | 5.4 |
| Kruidvat Power Booster | 9.6 | Mountain Dew Energy | 5.3 |
| Mother | 9.5 | Lucozade Sport | 4.7 |
| Irn-Bru 32 | 9.5 | Mountain Dew | 4.5 |
