Study Finds Caffeinated Alcoholic Beverages Do Not Enhance Performance
Following new warnings surrounding alcoholic beverages that include caffeine (which are often marketed as “energy” drinks that will increase alertness and stamina), a new study has found that adding caffeine to alcohol has no effect on enhancing driving performance. The researchers said there seems to be little or no benefit from adding caffeine to alcohol in terms of performing activities that require sustained attention and prompt reactions, such as driving.
Jonathan Howland, professor of community health sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health, led the study, which comes on the heels of increased government warnings about energy drinks, especially when mixed when alcohol. Energy beverages have been banned in Denmark, and Canadian and Swedish governments have issued warnings about the combination of alcohol and caffeine.
The researchers divided 129 participants between the ages of 21 to 30 into four groups: one that consumed caffeinated beer, one that consumed non-caffeinated beer; another that consumed caffeinated non-alcoholic beer; and a fourth that consumed non-caffeinated, non-alcoholic beer. Those who drank alcohol reached an average blood alcohol level of .12 percent (the legal driving limit is .08 percent). Half an hour after drinking, the participants were given a driving test using a driving simulator, as well as a test on sustained attention and reaction times.
The results found that caffeine did not lessen the effects of alcohol. The effect of alcohol on driving performance was significant, but adding caffeine to the alcohol did not make a significant difference. Caffeine made a slight difference on sustained attention and reaction times, but it wasn’t significant. The researchers concluded that drinkers should understand that adding caffeine to alcohol does not make alcohol any safer to drink.
The researchers suggest that people should be educated through warning labels and media outlets about the dangers of consuming caffeinated alcoholic beverages. They noted that although energy drink manufacturers do not specifically advertise that their products should be mixed with alcohol, but that some marketing strategies suggest that these drinks will keep you awake and alert.
Since 2001, the popularity of energy drinks mixed with alcohol has greatly increased; some surveys found that one in four college students reported mixing caffeine and alcohol. The researchers said that their study is one of the first to look at the acute effects of caffeine and alcohol on driving impairment.
Source: Science Daily, Energy Drinks Don’t Blunt Effects of Alcohol, Study Finds, January 13, 2011
