RT Journal Article
T1 Red Bull® energy drink increases consumption of higher concentrations of alcohol.
A1 Roldán, Marta
A1 Echeverry-Alzate, Victor
A1 Bühler, Kora-Mareen
A1 Sánchez-Diez, Israel J
A1 Calleja-Conde, Javier
A1 Olmos, Pedro
A1 Boehm, Stephen L
A1 Maldonado, Rafael
A1 Rodríguez de Fonseca, Fernando
A1 Santiago, Catalina
A1 Gómez-Gallego, Felix
A1 Giné, Elena
A1 López-Moreno, Jose Antonio
K1 alcohol
K1 energy drink
K1 operant self-administration
AB Mixing alcohol with caffeinated energy drinks is a common practice, especially among young people. In humans, the research on this issue has mainly focused on the use of the mass-marketed energy drinks themselves, whereas in animal models, it has focused on the individual effects of their active ingredients (i.e. caffeine). Here, we have characterized how Red Bull®, one of the most consumed caffeinated energy drink worldwide, modulates operant alcohol self-administration in Wistar rats. We found that animals readily and steadily responded for Red Bull (mean: 90 responses, 30 minutes and fixed-ratio 1), which was accompanied by locomotor stimulating effects (26 percent increase). The higher the concentration of alcohol (3-20 percent), the higher the consumption of alcohol (g/kg) and associated blood alcohol levels (91.76 percent) in the mixed Red Bull-alcohol group (60 percent increase). Blood caffeine levels in the Red Bull group were 4.69 μg/ml and 1.31 μg/ml in the Red Bull-alcohol group after the 30-minute session. Because Red Bull also contains 11 percent sucrose, we examined the time course of blood glucose as well as insulin and corticosterone. The correlation between intake of Red Bull and blood glucose levels was higher at 90 minutes than 5 minutes after its consumption, and there was no relationship with blood insulin or blood corticosterone levels. Red Bull did not alter extinction and reacquisition of responding for alcohol nor did it affect relapse-like drinking. Overall, our results suggest that Red Bull might be a vulnerability factor to develop alcoholism given that it intensifies the consumption of higher concentrations of alcohol.
YR 2017
FD 2017-09-22
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10668/24508
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10668/24508
LA en
DS RISalud
RD Apr 11, 2025