Energy Drinks with Alcohol Harm Teens' Brains read more at here www.spinonews.com/index.php/item/1429-energy-drinks-with-alcohol-harm-teens-brains

In a new study, researchers found Drinking highly caffeinated alcoholic beverages triggers changes in the adolescent brain similar to taking cocaine, and the consequences last into adulthood as an altered ability to deal with rewarding substances.

According to a Purdue University study, Teens who got serious brain injuries in the last year were also more likely to report drinking lots of energy drinks.

These energy drinks can contain as much as 10 times the caffeine as soda and are often marketed to adolescents. When those high levels of caffeine were mixed with alcohol and given to adolescent mice, they showed physical and neurochemical signs similar to mice given cocaine.

[Image source: Alcohol Journal ]

Richard van Rijn, an assistant professor of medicinal chemistry and molecular pharmacology said, “It seems the two substances together push them over a limit that causes changes in their behavior and changes the neurochemistry in their brains, We're clearly seeing effects of the combined drinks that we would not see if drinking one or the other." 

Data suggest that about 50% of adolescents consume energy drinks, and 31% do so on a regular basis. Young people appear to increasingly choose energy drinks over soda.