Worrying facts about alcohol and energy drinks

A research has shown that drinkers who consume energy drinks record higher breath alcohol concentrations than those who don't. They're also more likely to report engaging in aggressive acts; being injured; having driven while drunk or been the passenger of a drunk driver; and having taken sexual advantage of, or been taken advantage of by, another person. Some of the researchers doing these studies have argued that we shouldn't be concerned about the risks of combining alcohol and energy drinks. Many of those who draw this reassuring conclusion have been funded by one of the major energy drink producers, Red Bull. It's especially worrisome that four out of five talks at special conference sessions on this topic have been made by industry-funded researchers. The same speakers have been funded to attend conferences around the world by a company with financial interest in the research outcomes. The frequent failure to disclose this fact raises questions about the use of research findings as image management.