A flurry of recent media reports has focused attention on emergency room visits following youth’s consumption of alcohol energy drinks – a subset of the flavored malt beverages known as alcopops. It’s the rage among teens and college students – either purchasing energy drinks and combining them with alcohol or purchasing Alcohol Energy Drinks (AEDs) dubbed “black out in a can” by many.
Seductive, the sugary, fruit-flavored beverages mask the flavor of alcohol, and the caffeine fuels a dangerous perception of being able to “party all night” that is, drink harder and longer. Let’s face it, energy drinks combined with alcohol or the energy drinks sold with alcohol in them certainly have a candy-coated appeal – especially with names like Four Loko, Joose, Slingshot Party Gel, Evil Eye, Soarks, Steel Reserve 211. And the makers of these drinks target the youth market. They are relatively cheap – less than three bucks, sold in eye-catching, youth-oriented packaging, that often looks more like a can of iced tea than a can of beer.
For example, the drink Four Loko contains a lot of caffeine and alcohol. It’s 12-percent alcohol by volume (that’s more than twice what’s in an equal amount of Budweiser) and it has an unspecified amount of caffeine, though common energy drinks have about two to three times as much caffeine as a Coke. Four Loko and other energy drinks also boast of other energy-boosting ingredients like guarana and taruine.
The effect of combining a stimulant like caffeine with a depressant like alcohol means one gets drunker than they think they are. In effect one is a “wide awake” drunk.
Alcohol functions in your body pretty much the same whether one mixes it with caffeine or not. The problem is one feels better when caffeine is present. According to a study published in the Journal of Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research found that people, who consume energy drinks with alcohol had significantly less dry mouth and headache than those who drank only alcohol. They also perceived their motor coordination is better – even thought it wasn’t.
The fact is alcoholic energy drinks trick one’s brain into believing they are not as drunk as they are. This means that now, one is a wide awake drunk. Wide awake drunks may not feel the warning signs of dangerous drinking such as the important subjective effects of tiredness and loss of coordination which are signals that it’s time to stop drinking.
According to the National Institute of Health, alcohol combined with energy drinks send mixed messages to one’s nervous system. High levels of caffeine can boost heart rates and blood pressure, causing palpitations, and the combination of alcohol and caffeine further increases the risk of heart rhythm problems. Then comes the alcohol, the depressant which can cause cardiac related problems, as well as slow down the respiratory system.
When the body is in such a confused state, people often miss the signs of alcohol poisoning, and that can be deadly. Try as we may to send the message about no drinking and driving, our teens and young adults still see themselves, as invincible and tell themselves they have only drunk an energy drink. And they see that as harmless.
Alcohol has been around for hundreds of years, and some would ask, “What’s the big deal? I drank as a kid and I made it.”
The big deal is we have many ways of disguising those things that are detrimental to our bodies and in some instances our lives. By their very nature, many of our teens and young adults are not often thinking with a mature brain, looking towards a healthy future, but living in the moment of what tastes good and feels good to their bodies, as well as trying to impress their peers.
The big deal is, as parents we must seize the teachable moments, have the conversation prior to the alcohol poured into the energy drink, and the shoulder tap at the liquor store that has someone else buying them that alcohol energy drink, because they are under age.
Cary Quashen is the president and founder of ACTION Parent & Teen Support Group Programs and ACTION Family Counseling Drug and Alcohol Treatment programs. ACTION Parent & Teen Support Group meetings meet at Canyon High every Tuesday beginning at 7 p.m. in the A building. Quashen may be reached at 661-713-3006 or one may call the ACTION hotline at 1-800-FOR-TEEN.