Recent experiments on rats have shown that mixing energy drinks with alcohol can cause long-term problems with cognitive function, raising concerns about drinking habits in young people.
The danger of mixing drinks…
Hey Stady Conducted by a team from the University of Cagliari and the University of Catania in Italy, groups of adolescent male mice were given alcohol, energy drinks or a mixture of both. Several standard tests were then used to assess cognitive function - including brain scan and behavioral tests - Up to 53 days after consumption.
These tests revealed that animals that consumed the mixed drinks showed permanent changes in their ability to learn and remember, as well as changes in the hippocampus part of the brain. The area responsible for learning and memory.
Little is known about whether co-consumption of these beverages during adolescence can have long-term effects on central function, raising questions about the risks of this habit on brain maturation.
The researchers write in the published article.
It's clear that alcohol and energy drinks are very popular among young people for a variety of reasons - from late-night partying to late-night study sessions - and the implications of this study are These habits may cause some damage in the long run..
In particular, it appears that the plasticity of the hippocampus may be affected, impairing the brain's ability to adapt and change in response to new information and demands. It is an important part of normal brain function..
The problems are not short term but long term.
Although the mice that consumed alcohol and energy drinks initially showed increases in some measures and brain functions — including an increase in a protein that stimulates nerve cell growth — these benefits did not persist, and over time, into adulthood. There was actually a decrease in brain capacity..
Our results show that alcohol consumption mixed with energy drinks during preadolescence leads to adaptive changes in the hippocampus at the electrophysiological and molecular levels, associated with behavioral changes, which are already detectable during adolescence and persist into adulthood.
Researchers write.
These findings have yet to be confirmed in human studies and there are likely to be gender differences due to hormonal interactions that could not be explored in this study. But the results suggest that health concerns about energy drinks are justified. Alcohol has many health effects, It stands to reason that mixing the two in a meaningful way is not the best idea..
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