High-risk behavior associated with alcohol use intensifies with unscrewing the cap on a bottle of beer, and, according to a study released last week, cracking the tab of an energy drink intensifies those dangers even more.
The study associates the trend of mixing alcohol and energy drinks with an increased likelihood of high-risk behavior, especially on college campuses, said Dr. Mary Claire O'Brien, the study's head author and associate professor of emergency medicine and public health sciences at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem.
In the Web-based survey, 4,271 students from 10 North Carolina universities answered questions regarding their drinking and other health risk behaviors, O'Brien said.
The students were chosen through a computer-generated stratified random sample.
Daniel Hadas (senior-political science and economics) said mixing energy drinks with alcohol is common, especially with college students.
He said the mixture of vodka and Red Bull is a "really popular" drink.
"There are several [mixed] drinks related to using energy drinks," he added.
The study reiterated O'Brien's assertion that the practice is common, but it also showed high-risk behavior like getting into a car with a drunk driver or needing medical treatment.
One-fourth of the students who said that they drank within the past 30 days mixed alcohol with energy drinks, according to the study.
These students got drunk and binged more days in a typical week, had more drinks in a single episode and participated more frequently in high-risk drinking behaviors than those who didn't mix the two types of beverages, she said.
Those who mixed alcohol with energy drinks were twice as likely to participate in high-risk behaviors, including riding in a car with someone who's driving under the influence, taking advantage of someone and being taken advantage of sexually, requiring medical treatment and getting hurt or injured, O'Brien said.
The study said mixing alcohol and energy drinks causes a person to feel less drunk than they actually are, O'Brien said.
Drinking both beverages at the same time, O'Brien said, "is kind of like getting in a car and stepping on the brake and the gas at the same time."
Red Bull North America, Inc., an energy drink company, disagrees with O'Brien's findings, and instead blames high-risk behaviors solely on alcohol, not the mixing of the two beverages.
"This report tells us what everyone knows: The excessive and irresponsible consumption of alcohol can have adverse effects on human health and behavior. These are due to the alcoholic drink, not the mixer, be it cola, orange juice, tonic or whatever else is mixed with alcohol," Patrice Radden, director of corporate communications for Red Bull, wrote in an e-mail.
Kevin Aufiero (senior-criminal justice) said he thinks the behaviors are a result of the alcohol, as well.
"I think whether you drink regular beer or beer with energy drinks, it's bound to happen," Aufiero said.
"I think it all comes down to personal responsibility."
