Drinking Alcohol? Don't Drink This, Too

[Dave_G]

Some food...er,uh...drinking for thought.

From Netscape online news service...

Drinking Alcohol? Don't Drink This, Too
Go ahead and enjoy a bottle of beer, glass of wine or a martini, but never mix your booze with an energy drink. Mixing caffeinated energy drinks like Red Bull and Full Throttle with alcohol puts unnecessary stress on the body, dehydrating it and pulling the brain and central nervous system in two different directions, according to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

"Understand that when you're putting that much caffeine into your body, it's going to mask the effects of alcohol, and you're probably going to feel more sober than you are," warned Joe Mull, substance abuse prevention specialist from UPMC's Student Health Services' Health Education Office. Energy drinks mixed with alcohol also is a concern for the cardiovascular system. "One of the concerns is that when you have a lot of caffeine, your heart rate goes up, your blood pressure goes up," said Leslie Bonci, director of sports nutrition at UPMC's Center for Sports Medicine. "Now we have double stress on the heart because alcohol dehydrates."

And that's not all. A special ingredient in Red Bull is taurine, an amino acid that naturally occurs in the body. The Red Bull Web site notes, "Taurine acts as an antioxidant and has been shown to promote detoxification by binding together with harmful substances and thereby accelerating their excretion from the body." Baloney. It's marketing without substance. "Unfortunately, herbal supplements aren't regulated in this country, so you end up with a lot of mythical effects. What you're left with is a caffeinated beverage trying to fight that depressant effect," said Meg Mayer-Costa, a dietitian in the UPMC Student Health Services' Health Education Office. She explained that taurine is actually a nonessential amino acid that doesn't have any harmful effects, but it doesn't have any beneficial effects either. For Mull, this marketing strategy "is kind of a fancy way of saying that our drink will make you pee."

Combine energy drinks with alcohol and you will increase the drunken experience many times over, as well as impair the body's ability to recover from the booze. "The liver does not multitask well," Mull quipped. "It doesn't really focus on anything else until it's done with the alcohol." If the prospect of a wicked hangover isn't enough to make you leave the Red Bull at home when you're out drinking, consider this: Combine the 300 or so calories from a single energy drink with the significant calories in alcohol, and you could get fat.

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[pappawheely]

"Understand that when you're putting that much caffeine into your body, it's going to mask the effects of alcohol, and you're probably going to feel more sober than you are,"

That contradicts everything we have been told for the last 30 years about coffee sobering you up?? This reads like an opinion piece not science. IMHO

When was the last time anyone said anything was good for us? Everything we eat now is dangerous and has side effects or so they say. Are eggs good or bad now I lost track. LOL

[Dave_G]

That contradicts everything we have been told for the last 30 years about coffee sobering you up?? This reads like an opinion piece not science. IMHO

I'm certainly no expert on all that since I stopped drinking alcohol some time ago as well as cut out all coffee and caffeine too. I was having problems with my heart rhythm a few years back and discovered that the caffeine was the culprit. (I'm sure the alcohol was no help to me either... .) I just found that article interesting since I've been there, done that.

[roostthemoon]

I dont know what to believe anymore

[AirborneF150]

This is getting so out of hand, everything can kill you nowadays or shorten your life span. I dont understand why the news and media has to make such a big deal out of it. Everyone know that drinking in excess is bad for you, it really has nothing to do with the energy drinks. I have been drinking jager and energy drinks for a couple years now. It doesnt leave a massive hangover or even make you feel less drunk, drunk is drunk from what I have always learned.

[OldStroppeTeam]

"

When was the last time anyone said anything was good for us? Everything we eat now is dangerous and has side effects or so they say. Are eggs good or bad now I lost track. LOL

Breathing is harmful to the human body !
Breathing contaminated atmospheres, like big cities (smog) and offroard race courses (dust, Valley Fever, hydrocarbon fumes) is very bad for you !

WE ARE ALL DOOMED !!

[randy s]

i'm tired of people trying to save me from myself. seems like everybody that is an expert on this or that has their agenda. take weed as an example. just be honest and answer this question. from purely a health standpoint, choose one. pork sausage gravy? or a joint. as long as you're not interfering with someone else, hurting someone else, so forth and so on, then go for it. c'mon folks, think about it. we're not exactly envolved in the safest sport out there as it is. what if some busy body a--hole told you no more racin' cause it's bad for you. how long would take you to 86 that prick from your life? why? cause it aint none of his business to start with. go ahead and have a shooter with a monster back. i don't care . it's YOUR life. there aint no laws saying that you can't stick your pecker in a meat grinder, but have a shot and red bull? or smoke that phatty at home? heaven forbid. but if you do insist on doin shots and energy drinks back and come around bothering people with your wide awake drunk bs, then you ought to know that somebody might hand you your a--. it's his right. or should be.

[prerunner1499]

OK thinking back to my "more stupider days" I HAD some friends who did drugs. They used to party hard and do lines, (meth) and drink like fish. Im certain that they drank about 50% more than they did without the meth in their system. They would be amped up drinks, NOTHING would hurt them. Talk about hard to deal with. They would start to get surly and when someone would talk chit at them BOOM,, "fights on"

Now take this energy drink with alchohol in them. Sheeit people make up your minds! Do you wanna get buzzed or get amped? Heck, Ive seen first hand what these "cocktails" do to people and its funny. One minute their sitting there all "whooooaaa man, Im getting so drunk dude" then next they are bouncing off the walls like a spastic chimpanzee on PCP. Frickin hilarious to watch them *** out like fools. Then do the "oh man Im so sorry about last night man" It was out of hand.

"No dude,, you were just an out of controll prick! Dont do that again."

[zetapsi827]

That contradicts everything we have been told for the last 30 years about coffee sobering you up?? This reads like an opinion piece not science. IMHO

Maybe i missunderstood you. but caffene NEVER sobers you up. you just become a more awake drunk. THAT is scientifically proven.

The ONLY thing that is scientifically proven to sober you up is time. The average person can burn through the effects of 12oz of beer, 8 oz of wine, and 1 oz of a "shot" in about an hour. It varies by gender (women are less tolerant), body weight, height, and tolerance developed.

So..... you and everyone else that has told you coffee sobers you up has been wrong for the last 30 years. Again, maybe i missunderstood yo or i didn't read the sarcasm b/w the lines.

If a cop pulls you over and you take a breathalizer, i guarantee he will site you for a dui or dwi even if you've had a cup of coffee.

The science for this has been done and proven. Go ahead and drive drunk and get pulled over for a DUI. You'll have lots of fun going to classes and learning about how alcohol burns through your body.



On another note. Mixing downers and uppers, great idea. lets get a loaded pistol in the mix.

[FABRICATOR]

Whatever you're high in or on, this floor painting would be kinda cool.