News: Mixing booze with energy drinks could be dangerous, study says

If you’re going to be indulging in the occasional cocktail over the holidays, I offer this one piece of advice: Just say no to Jagerbombs (or any beverage that mixes alcohol and energy drinks, for that matter). It turns out, they might be bad for your health.

A recent study conducted by reasearchers at Dalhousie University in Halifax found that students who mixed alcohol with energy drinks nearly doubled their alcohol intake, reports the CBC.

Researchers in the departments of psychology and psychiatry interviewed 72 university students about their drinking habits, and found that when they mixed alcohol with energy drinks, they consumed around eight cocktails‘nearly twice as many as when energy drinks were not involved.

"That’s actually a pretty profound increase," says Dr. Sean Barrett, associate professor of psychology and psychiatry at Dalhousie, in a news release. "But it’s consistent with our other research where we see an increase in alcohol consumption related to the use of other stimulant drugs, like tobacco… When people drink with energy drinks, they tend to drink in a more hazardous way."

Apart from increasing alcohol consumption (and therefore putting yourself at risk for alcohol poisoning), researchers have previously warned that mixing alcohol, which is a depressant, with a powerful stimulant such as energy drinks, can lead to serious health complications including cardiovascular failure. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t think any night out on the town is worth having a heart attack over.

My personal’and admittedly unscientific’research on this topic has uncovered two things: First, on several brands of energy drinks, it clearly states on the can that the product is not intended to be mixed with alcohol. Second, when ordering an energy drink and alcohol at a bar, you’ll generally receive the ingredients separately, not pre-mixed. So the solution here is pretty simple: just don’t mix the two. There are plenty of healthier cocktails out there’so if you’re feeling a little adventurous over the holidays, why not try one of those, instead?

Do you think bars should ban the sale of energy drinks so that people can’t mix them? Or is there a better way?

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