Is it dangerous to combine alcohol with caffeine or energy drinks?
Mixing Alcohol and Energy Drinks Can Be Dangerous
• Caffeine, plant-based stimulants, simple sugars, and other ingredients are common in energy drinks.
• In the United States, mixing alcohol with energy drinks is a common practice, especially among young people.
In 2017, 10.6 percent of the eighth, tenth, and twelfth-graders and 31.8 percent of young adults aged 19 to 28 said they had consumed alcohol combined with energy drinks at least once in the previous year.
• In a survey of Michigan high school students, binge drinkers were more than twice as likely as non-binge drinkers to mix alcohol with energy drinks (49.0 percent vs. 18.2 percent). Liquor was the most common form of alcohol consumed by students who said they mixed it with energy drinks (52.7 percent).
• Drinkers aged 15 to 23 who combine alcohol with energy drinks are four times more likely than those who do not mix alcohol with energy drinks to binge drink heavily (i.e., consume six or more drinks per binge episode).
• Drinkers who mix alcohol with energy drinks are more likely to report unwanted or unsafe sex, driving drunk or traveling with an intoxicated driver, or suffering alcohol-related accidents than Those that do not combine alcohol and energy drinks.
The Risks of Mixing Caffeine and Alcohol
• Caffeine can help drinkers feel more alert by masking the depressant effects of alcohol. As a result, they can consume more alcohol and become more impaired than they know, potentially raising the risk of alcohol-related harm.
• Caffeine has no impact on the liver’s absorption of alcohol, so it does not affect breath or blood alcohol levels (it doesn’t “sober you up”), or on impairment caused by alcohol consumption.
Alcoholic Beverages with Caffeine
• Caffeinated Alcoholic Beverages (CABs) were premixed beverages that combined alcohol, caffeine, and other stimulants and were common in the 2000s12. They were malt-based or distilled spirits-based drinks with a higher alcohol content than beer (e.g., 12 percent alcohol by volume compared to 4 percent to 5 percent for beer).
• CABs were actively promoted through youth-oriented media (e.g., social media) and graphics and messaging that linked the consumption of these drinks to extreme sports or risk-taking behaviors.
• In November 2010, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) informed the manufacturers of seven CABs that their drinks may no longer be sold in their current form because According to the FDA, “the addition of caffeine to these alcoholic drinks might not be ‘generally recognized as safe,’ which is the legal standard.” Caffeine and other stimulants were removed from CAB goods as a result of the response.
