Brown Research: News on Caffeine + Alcohol

Saturday, June 04, 2011

GoLocalProv Health Team

Having that Red Bull with your vodka or enjoying your Irish coffee may not improve or enhance your inebriation, according to researchers at Brown University.

A recent study published in the journal, Addiction, shows that the combination of caffeine and alcohol does not actually differ from alcohol in its effects on the consumer. And, more surprisingly, that combining caffeine with alcohol did not affect the drinker's perception of his or her level of intoxication.

The marketing of caffeine undoing alcohol's sedating effects

Dr. Damaris Rohsenow, professor of community health and the associate director at Brown’s Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, says that this study began in response to widely held beliefs that caffeine would undo the sedating effects of alcohol. Previous studies showed that young people in particular were attracted to this form of marketing.

Original studies showed that young adults who drank caffeinated alcohol were more likely to experience negative consequences from drinking, including alcohol-related accidents. Rohsenow cites another study that showed that people who drank caffeinated alcohol were more likely to be above the legal limit and more likely to intend to drive away from the bar.

Rohsenow says that she was surprised to find that “caffeine did nothing to improve the impairment in driving that alcohol caused.”

Examining driving, attention span, reaction times

This study, conducted at Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies (with Boston University’s School of Public Health) examined effects on impaired driving performance, shortened attention span, and slowed reaction times. In the stimulated driving study, she said that alcohol caused participants to weave and go over the center-line or off the road, but caffeine had no effect.

“More surprising,” says Rohsenow, “was that participants did not think they were any less intoxicated with caffeine than without caffeine at this level of intoxication, although two other studies found that adding caffeine to alcohol reduced feelings of intoxication.”

Rohsenow says that problem is really in the marketing of energy drinks. Frequently, these marketing slogans imply that the energy will undo the sedating qualities of alcohol. These beverages indicate it will increase endurance and liveliness.

The FTC's efforts

Because of this reputation, last year the Federal Trade Commission told the four biggest manufacturers of alcoholic energy drinks that the caffeine in their beverages was not a safe additive and the companies agreed to reformulate. Despite the FTC’s efforts, it has been clear that this has done little to stop people from mixing these drinks on their own.

Though Rohsenow’s findings do contradict the original FTC arguments against this mixed drink, the study does not support the combination. “Caffeine appears to provide no protection against the risk of driving-related incidents in people drinking to intoxication,” says Rohsenow, “despite that energy drinks have been marketed as ways to counteract the sedating effects of alcohol.