A popular belief by many of today’s nightclubbing youth has now been proved to be incorrect. According to a study by the University of Sao Poalo, Red Bull, one of the worlds most popular energy drinks, when combined with Alcohol will not improve your stamina. Energy drinks – usually a mixture of caffeine, taurine, carbohydrates, B-complex vitamins and gluconolactone – have become very popular in recent years. Although several studies support the widespread belief that energy drinks may enhance mood and/or improve cognitive and physical performance, very little research has investigated their purported ability to delay the depressant effects of alcohol on the central nervous system, thereby prolonging its excitatory effects. A study in the September issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research has found that an energy drink called Red Bull®, when consumed jointly with alcohol, does not improve a person’s physical performance. Maria Lucia O. Souza, an associate professor at the Federal University of São Paulo in Brazil and corresponding author for the study reveals their findings “In Brazil, as in other countries, the use of ‘energy drinks’ such as Red Bull is relatively common in bars and night clubs - Many young people use them mixed with vodka, whisky or other spirits. While the combination of the two, she said, may give people the ‘sensation’ of reduced alcohol effects, their abilities are in fact compromised for complex tasks such as driving a vehicle.
Researchers had 14 healthy, male volunteers complete four sessions, each one week apart, during which they received water, alcohol (1.0 g/kg), an energy drink, and alcohol plus an energy drink prior to performing a cycling test. The cycling test, which lasted until either a maximum heart rate was reached or the volunteer asked to stop, began 60 minutes after ingestion of that week’s solution. Sixty minutes after the cycling test, researchers also measured the participants’ physiological indicators (VO2, ventilatory threshold, respiratory exchange rate, heart rate and blood pressure), biochemical variables (glucose, lactate, hormones and neurotransmitters) and blood alcohol levels.
Results indicate that the energy drink tested in this study, when consumed jointly with alcohol, did not improve performance (in this case, cycling) or reduce physiological and biochemical alterations induced by alcohol ingestion.