Alcohol mixed with energy drinks: what about taurine?
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REVIEW
Alcohol mixed with energy drinks: what about taurine? E. Tarragon 1,2 & J. Calleja-Conde 1 & E. Giné 3 & L. Segovia-Rodríguez 1 & P. Durán-González 1 & V. Echeverry-Alzate 1,4 Received: 30 June 2020 / Accepted: 4 November 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Rationale Since energy drinks (EDs) were marketed to the general public as recreational and soft drinks, mixing these with alcohol has become a popular practice, especially in the younger population. Alcohol mixed with EDs (AmEDs) is a particularly alarming combination, given the evidence that consistently associate these drinks with increased risk behaviours and greater alcohol consumption. Caffeine and taurine are commonly found in EDs. In contrast to caffeine, the studies on taurine psychoactive properties and how this amino acid influences ethanol intake alone or in combination with caffeine are not so numerous. Objectives We summarised relevant and available data on the studies focusing on taurine as a psychoactive agent and its influence on ethanol (EtOH)-induced behaviours. Given the increased risk that represents mixing alcohol with energy drinks, we put emphasis on the research exploring the impact of these combinations on motivated behaviour towards EtOH consumption. Results The research on taurine properties on motivated behaviour towards EtOH consumption is limited, and mostly all done in combination with caffeine or other molecules. This makes it difficult to elucidate the effect of this amino acid when combined with alcohol. Conclusions Incomplete understanding of the properties and effects of AmEDs is unavoidable until more studies are performed on the influence of taurine on motivation to consume alcohol. Taurine should be further explored, particularly in regard to its potential beneficial applications, motivational properties and synergies with other psychoactive ingredients (i.e. caffeine). Keywords Taurine . Ethanol . AmEDs . Caffeine . Ethanol-induced behaviours . Alcohol consumption
Introduction Mixing caffeinated drinks with alcohol gained significant momentum since energy drinks (EDs) started to be marketed to the general public as recreational and soft drinks (Simon and E. Tarragon and J. Calleja-Conde contributed equally to this work. * E. Tarragon [email protected] 1
Department of Psychobiology and Methodology on Behavioral Sciences, School of Psychology, Complutense University of Madrid, Campus de Somosaguas, Madrid, Spain
2
Universidad Internacional de La Rioja, Faculty of Health Sciences, Avenida de la Paz, 137, 26006 Logroño, La Rioja, Spain
3
Department of Cellular Biology, School of Medicine, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
4
Unidad Gestión Clínica de Salud Mental, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga (IBIMA), Hospital Regional Universitario de Málaga, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain
Mosher 2007; Jones et al. 2012). Nowadays, its combination with alcoholic beverages is a common practice (Weldy 2010; Patrick et al. 2018). Alcohol mixed
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