"Health & Medical News"

College students often mix alcohol with energy drinks so that they can drink more and longer, researchers say, but the strategy can lead to more alcohol-related injuries, too.

Fox News reported Nov. 5 that researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine found that students who mixed alcohol and drinks like Red Bull had double the risk of being hurt or injured, requiring medical attention, driving with an intoxicated driver, being taken advantage of sexually, or taking advantage of another sexually.

Lead researcher Mary Claire O’Brien said she and colleagues “were surprised that the risk of serious and potentially deadly consequences is so much higher for those who mixed energy drinks with alcohol, even when we adjusted for the amount of alcohol.”

“Students whose motor skills, visual reaction times, and judgment are impaired by alcohol may not perceive that they are intoxicated as readily when they’re also ingesting a stimulant,” said O’Brien. “Only the symptoms of drunkenness are reduced — but not the drunkenness. They can’t tell if they’re drunk; they can’t tell if someone else is drunk. So they get hurt, or they hurt someone else.”

The findings were based on an Internet survey of more than 4,000 students from 10 universities. About a quarter of those who drank alcohol within the past month said they mixed alcohol and energy drinks. Mixing was more prevalent among males, whites, older students, intramural athletes, and fraternity/sorority members and pledges.

The findings were reported at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association in Washington, D.C.

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