Do alcohol and caffeine mix? The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ruled they do not. Last week, FDA officials stamped on the makers of pre-mixed caffeinated alcoholic drinks, saying the products are “adulterated” by the addition of caffeine, which it said in this context was an “unsafe food additive”.
The FDA's target was drinks such as Four Loko, a can of which packs the punch of a bottle of wine and two or three cups of coffee and may sell for less than US$3. The food regulator, prompted by a wave of publicity for incidents in which young people were made seriously ill after over-indulging in the drinks, says manufacturers of Four Loko and six other caffeinated alcoholic drinks must remove the caffeine from their products, or their products from store shelves — or risk having them seized. Even before the decision was announced, Four Loko's maker, a small company called Phusion Projects in Chicago, Illinois, had agreed to remove the caffeine from its popular flagship product.
The drinks are said by the FDA to be of special concern because the caffeine counters the alcohol's soporific effects, leading largely young and inexperienced drinkers to drink more, and to perceive themselves as more capable, and less drunk, than they actually are. The science in this area is in its early days and incomplete, but several studies do show cause for concern. One measured the breath-alcohol levels of 623 drinkers — almost all of them students — leaving bars in a Florida university district in 2008. It found those who had consumed alcohol mixed with caffeinated energy drinks were three times more likely to leave the bar highly intoxicated, and four times more likely to intend to drive, compared with drinkers who consumed alcohol alone (D. L. Thombs et al. Add. Behav. 35, 325–330; 2010).
The FDA's move is a sensible precaution as far as it goes, but it can hardly be seen as serious government action to curb the death, disease and destruction caused by alcohol. > > > > Read More
