Alcohol consumption patterns on alcohol only occasions, and occasions on which alcohol is mixed with energy drink or other non-alcoholic beverages

Purpose: To compare alcohol consumption patterns when consuming alcohol only (AO), when consuming alcohol mixed with energy drink (AMED), and alcohol mixed with other non-alcoholic beverages (AMOB) such as cola or tonic. Methods: An identical survey was conducted in Australia (N = 126), UK (N = 550), and The Netherlands (N = 1239) examining alcohol consumption patterns of AMED consumers on occasions when they consume AO, AMED, or AMOB. Data from the three countries were aggregated in meta analyses, and consumption patterns of the three drinking occasions were compared. Results: Within subject comparisons among N = 1915 AMED consumers werre analyzed. Compared with consuming AO, when consuming AMED or AMOB, students consumed significantly fewer alcoholic drinks on an average drinking day (p = 0.024 and p = 0.001, respectively), and reported significantly fewer drinking days in the previous month (p = 0.0001), significantly fewer days being drunk (p = 0.0001), and significantly fewer occasions of consuming more than four (female)/ five (male) alcoholic drinks (p = 0.0001). The maximum number of alcoholic drinks in the previous month on AMED or AMOB-occasions was significantly lower when compared with occasions when they consumed AO (p = 0.0001). No significant difference between AMED and AMOB was found regarding the number of alcoholic drinks on an average drinking day (p = 0.813). Compared with consuming AMOB, when consuming AMED, students had significantly fewer drinking days in the previous month (p = 0.0001), significantly fewer days being drunk (p = 0.0001), and significantly fewer occasions of consuming more than four (female)/five (male) alcoholic drinks (p = 0.0001). The maximum number of alcoholic drinks consumed on AMED-occasions in the previous month was significantly lower when compared to AMOB-occasions (p = 0.0001). Highest consumption patterns, both in terms of quantity and frequency, were observed in UK, followed by The Netherlands, and Australia. Conclusion: Alcohol is consumed most frequent and in highest quantities when not mixed with non-alcoholic beverages. The least alcohol, both in terms of quantity and frequency, is consumed on occasions when alcohol is mixed with energy drink.