Image from Consumer Reports
Everyone knows by now that energy drinks aren’t the safest beverage option. These highly caffeinated drinks give people a boost of energy in the form of a mix of chemicals and a lot of sugar, and the caffeinated alcoholic drinks are even worse. They mix alcohol, a depressant, with an energy drink packed with caffeine, and the results have been disastrous.
The Food and Drug Administration came out with warnings against these beverages way back in 2010, but people are still tipping back thousands upon thousands of cans every day.What the FDA was mainly concerned about was how college students were becoming so drunk because of these caffeinated alcoholic drinks that they were blacking out or becoming poisoned by alcohol. That’s a significant worry, but another of the dangers the FDA may not have known about has come to light after the completion of a six year research study.
The study focused on caffeinated beverages, otherwise known as energy drinks, not the alcohol caffeinated drinks. Researchers followed 1,000 college students over six years and discovered that there was a link between how many energy drinks someone would drink and whether or not they were more likely to drive drunk. It turns out that the more they consumed, the more likely the subjects were to drive drunk.
Although the data suggests a link, researchers don’t have an answer as to why that link exists. One thought was that it could be because the person drinking energy drinks was using them after a hangover so they’re still mixing whatever alcohol is in their bloodstream with the drink. Or, as it was also suggested, they could just be the type of people who wouldn’t think twice about driving drunk in the first place.
Whatever the reason for the link between the two, the chemicals and high caffeine content alone should make you think twice about tipping one back every day. Now that there are additional risks on the table, you may really want to rethink your next energy drink.
