Alcohol + Caffeine = Bad Idea

The delightful drink Four Loko, named for its combination of alcohol, caffeine, taurine, and guarana, came out in 2005, although it wasn't widely known until the last year or so. It rapidly became a popular binge drinking choice as it contains a few beers worth of alcohol and enough caffeine to keep someone up all night for partying. These beverages are also pretty cheap, come in fruity flavors, and are packaged to look like a regular energy drink. From a packaging perspective, it seems a lot safer to drink two or three Four Loko cans than it would be to drink eight to twelve cans of beer, hence why these are so popular to guzzle down with no restraint. As an aside, with all the diligent students who drink Rockstar and other energy drinks in class, I always thought it would be hilarious to bring a Four Loko and see if anyone noticed.


Although sometimes even regular energy drink consumption is hard to miss.

As the consumption of Four Loko increased throughout college campuses, emergency rooms began to notice a trend. Heavily intoxicated younger folks kept showing up, some with extraordinarily hard blood alcohol levels. A recent report by some emergency department physicians at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York describes 11 cases they saw in a four month period. Two had to be hospitalized and about a third of the patients were in high risk situations, such as being heavily inebriated on subway tracks, when found by EMS.


The study authors also diligently searched all available medical literature for Four Loko references.

As a NPR news story adds, it seems that the combination of large amounts of caffeine with alcohol tends to lead to more dangerous levels of intoxication than alcohol alone. It masks some of the depressant effects of alcohol, allowing novice drinkers to drink much more before passing out or falling asleep, which normally serves as something of a barrier to excessive alcohol consumption. Instead, drinkers can continue to guzzle more alcohol, leading to potentially life threatening blood alcohol levels, or make extremely poor choices as they are kept awake by the caffeine while alcohol ravages their higher brain functions.

I can vouch for this effect personally, although I have not drunk Four Loko myself. I mostly went with Jagerbombs or other combinations of hard liquor and Red Bull. You can read more in detail about my own misadventure here if you like, but the crux of the matter is that I consumed a great deal of caffeine with alcohol and was wandering around with nearly full motor function with a BAC of .23, a level that should have had me in a stupor or unconscious. For reference, a .30 is about the BAC needed to be in a coma from alcohol. I was also in one of those high risk situations that the emergency room physicians were talking about, as I proudly lay on the roof of a three story building when the police came by to pick me up.

Conclusion
The official consensus is still out on whether caffeine and alcohol can be safely mixed, but coming from my own personal experiences, I would say that it's not a great combination. It certainly can be great to keep you up for a party, but it probably would be wise not to drink more than one Four Loko or other such mixed beverage in a night.


No matter how many this guy tries to sell you.

You can also watch this enlightening video for more information about the dangers of alcohol and caffeine.