Abstract
Purpose: Some authors suggest that mixing alcohol with energy drink (AMED) increases alcohol consumption when compared to alcohol alone. This study aimed to compare overall alcohol consumption with energy drink compared to mixing with other non-alcoholic beverages. Methods: Alcohol consumption patterns of N=1239 AMED consumers were examined using data from the Utrecht Student Survey (De Haan et al. 2012). Alcohol consumption for the past 30 days of AMED consumers was compared to occasions on which they (1) consumed alcohol only, or consumed alcohol mixed with (2) energy drink, or (3) other non-alcoholic beverages (i.e., colas, tonic) based on within-subjects comparisons. Results: On AMED occasions there was an average of 5.4 alcohol drinks compared to 5.1 drinks for other non-alcoholic beverages, and 6.0 drinks when consuming alcohol alone, indicating no relevant differences overall.Mixing alcohol with other non-alcoholic beverages showed a significant increase when compared to AMED for the number of drinking days (2.5 versus 1.4), days drunk (0.8 versus 0.5), days withmore than 5 (males)/4 (females) alcoholic drinks (1.5 versus 0.9), and the greatest number of alcoholic drinks consumed (5.4 versus 4.5). Conclusion: There were no overall relevant differences in alcohol consumption when mixing alcohol with energy drink or other non-alcoholic beverages, although some statistically significant increases were seen when other non-alcoholic beverages were consumed in combination with alcohol.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research |
| Volume | 38 |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2014 |
Keywords
- alcohol
- society
- alcoholism
- alcoholic beverage
- energy drink
- alcohol consumption
- human
- consumer
- drinking
- student
- female
- male
