Mixing alcohol with energy drinks with what results?

From Science Daily on 05/20/14:

Mixing alcohol with energy drinks (A+ED) continues to grow in popularity. A new study looks at motivations for both alcohol and A+ED consumption. Results show that hedonistic motives related to sensation and pleasure ideals were highly implicated. "'Hedonism' is a commonly used term in the alcohol field which, in this case, refers to people who are trying to increase pleasure and enjoyment, as opposed to other motivations for drinking such as taste, energy, sociability, or to increase or decrease intoxication," the researchers noted.
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"Our study is the first to show that people's motivations for mixing A+EDs can help to predict whether or not they experience negative outcomes like aggression and violence, alcohol-related injury, and can also indicate their risk for AD," said Droste.

"It is particularly noteworthy that people who reported using alcohol and energy drinks for 'hedonistic motives' -- that is, for the taste or the 'buzz' -- are at higher risk of reporting one, greater alcohol and ED intake, two, alcohol dependence, and three, being in an accident, being injured, or experiencing aggression whilst intoxicated," added Peacock.

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Droste said one result was a bit surprising. "People who drank A+EDs to sober up were actually at an increased risk of experiencing alcohol-related injuries and harms," he said. "This finding is interesting because it could mean that consumers are incorrect if they are assuming that drinking caffeine might reduce their intoxication."

He added that there could be a number of reasons for this misbelief. "Energy drinks are advertised as providing a boost to attention and mental and physical performance," he said. "It could be that this marketing strategy leads drinkers to believe that energy drinks could cancel out some of the effects of alcohol. Beyond this, hundreds of movies and TV shows have shown coffee as being a cure-all for drunks that need to sober up quickly. Maybe this is the latest phase of a long-standing myth that caffeine will help people sober up faster so that they can fool their boss, their spouse, the police, their bartender, or the security guard at the door!"

"These results suggest that different motivations for consuming alcohol with energy drinks are associated with greater risk of certain alcohol-related harms," said Peacock. "Consequently, we need to develop education campaigns targeted at those consumers who are driven in their beverage choice by these motives to make sure they are accurately informed about the potential effects of mixing the two beverages together, and are aware of the current Australian recommended intake guidelines for alcohol and energy drinks."

Editor's note:

If the goal of mixing alcohol and energy drinks is to increase the "buzz" or to get drunker quicker, make sure you get a ride home. If the goal is to "sober up" quicker. It doesn't work, caffeine does nothing to help your body metabolize alcohol any quicker than just good old fashioned "time".