(PUC-Rio -2007)COMBINING ALCOHOL AND ENERGY DRINK

(PUC-Rio - 2007) 

COMBINING ALCOHOL AND "ENERGY DRINK" REDUCES THE "PERCEPTION" OF IMPAIRMENT

The combined use of alcohol and "energy drinks" has become increasingly popular among youth and young adults in recent years. Users often report reduced sleepiness and increased sensations of pleasure. In the April issue of "Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research", Brazilian researchers conduct the first controlled scientific study on the effects of combining alcohol with those drinks. Results show a considerable disconnect between subjects' perceptions and objective measures of their abilities: ¹³although combined use reduces the sensation of tiredness and sleepiness, actual capabilities are significantly ¹impaired.

"In Brazil, as in other countries, young people believe that energy drinks avoid the sleepiness caused by alcoholic beverages and increase their capacity to dance all night," explained Maria Lucia O. Souza-Formigoni, associate professor in the department of psychobiology at the Federal University of São Paulo in Brazil and corresponding author for the study. "In fact, many night clubs offer this mix among their cocktails."

In a previous study on the use of energy drinks among Brazilians, Souza-Formigoni said that users reported greater happiness (38%), euphoria (30%), uninhibited behavior (27%), and increased physical vigor (24%). It is unclear; however, if this indicates the ability of energy drinks to reduce the depressant effects, increase the excitatory effects of alcohol, or both.

⁶"This study appears to show us that the use of energy drinks might predispose people to abuse alcohol when its depressant effects - or at least the perception of such effects - are masked by them," said Roseli Boerngen de Lacerda, associate professor in the department of pharmacology at the Universidade Federal do Parana, Brazil.

Compared to the ingestion of alcohol alone, the combined ²ingestion of alcohol and energy drinks ³significantly reduced the subjects' perception of headache, weakness, dry mouth and impairment of motor coordination. The researched energy drinks did not, however, significantly reduce deficits caused by alcohol on objective measures of motor coordination and visual reaction time.

"There are two key points," said Souza-Formigoni. "Although combined ingestion decreases the sensation of tiredness and sleepiness, objective measures of motor coordination showed that it 'cannot' reduce the ⁴harmful effects of alcohol on motor coordination. In other words, the person is drunk but does not feel as drunk as he really is. The second important point is that many users reported using energy drinks to reduce a not-so-pleasant taste of alcoholic beverages, which could dangerously increase the amount (as well as the speed of ingestion) of alcoholic beverages."

"The ⁸implications of these ⁹findings," added Boerngen, "are that this association of alcohol and energy drinks is harmful rather than beneficial, as believed by consumers. Especially because those ¹⁰individuals who combine alcohol and energy ¹¹drinks, believing ⁷they are less impaired than reality would indicate, are ⁵actually at an ¹⁴increased risk for 12problems such as automobile accidents."

¹⁵"Alcohol affects not only the motor coordination but also the capacity of decision, ¹⁶because it affects one important area of the brain - the prefrontal cortex," explained Souza-Formigoni. "Drunk drivers are dangerous not only because their reactions are delayed and motor coordination affected, but mainly because their capacity to evaluate the risks to which they will be exposed is also affected. People need to understand that the 'sensation' of well-being does not necessarily mean that they are unaffected by alcohol. ¹⁷Despite how good they may feel, they shouldn't drink and drive. Never."

adapted from "http://alcoholism.about.com/od/dui/a/blacer060416.htm. Public release date: 26-Mar-2006

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