EUCAM warns about the dangers of alcoholic energy drinks

After the raise of so-called “energy drinks” in the 1990's, mixing alcohol with energy drinks has become rapidly popular among young people. Alcohol producers have indeed profited of this trend and since 2003, they have been producing (and actively promoting) Alcoholic Energy Drinks (AEDs).

The mix of alcohol with energy drinks (usually containing stimulants such as caffeine, creatine, taurine, guarana etc) is particularly dangerous. The stimulant substances contained in energy drinks have been found to lessen the subjective signs of intoxication in people who have consumed alcohol (i.e. dizziness, fatigue, headache, trouble walking), which may in turn lead to increased alcohol consumption (O'Brien, 2008). Another danger is the diuretic effect of both substances that can get drinkers severely dehydrated. In addition the sugar in these drinks will speed up the absorption of alcohol.

Recent research showed that college students who regularly mixed alcohol with energy drinks binge drank more often and were drunk twice as often. Research also showed that, compared to students who did not consume AEDs, students who drank AEDs were twice as likely to report being hurt or injured, riding with an intoxicated driver, taking sexual advantage of someone else and to report that they required medical treatment, they had also a greatly increased risk of being taken advantage of sexually (O'Brien, 2008; Ferreira, 2006).

EUCAM (The European Centre for Monitoring Alcohol Marketing) recently completed an initial inventory of AEDs that could be found in the Stores of 17 European countries. This study showed that, compared to the 23 types of AEDs available in the US market, European stores did not have more than 3 or 4 kinds of AEDs. Most of these AEDs were produced in Europe.

EUCAM has stressed the importance of taking action before the large American producers introduce their AEDs in the European market.

In its report, EUCAM states that as a general rule Non-Member States had more stringent regulations on (alcoholic) energy drinks compared to EU Member States. Furthermore, the report pointed out the difficulties individual EU Member States would face if they decided to ban AEDs, due to possible conflicts with EU law. The report also mentioned that in countries where there is a ban on AEDs, alcohol producers try to circumvent these by using guarana and ginseng instead of caffeine and taurine.

For more information visit http://www.eucam.info/