Controversial Beverage: FDA to investigate Four Loko

by Kit Rodophele (NCC News)

Oct. 20, 2010, 5:10 p.m.

*Image not available due to site maintenance at 5:00PM PDT Wednesday, Oct. 20th

Syracuse, N.Y.- The FDA is starting to investigate an alcoholic beverage called Four Loko.

Four Loko, a manufactured combination of alcohol and energy drink, is a popular drink among college-age students and can be found in many Central New York convenience stores.

Dr. Gina Marraffa, a clinical toxicologist at Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse and the Upstate New York Poison Center, said that, to her knowledge, Four Loko is the only alcoholic drink on the market that is pre-mixed with both energy drink, (which contains caffeine) and alcohol.

Dr. Marraffa says that the problem with this drink combination, is that people cannot feel themselves becoming intoxicated while consuming it.

"Yeah, so you have more energy, you don't get as sleepy, and then it, it makes them feel less intoxicated. But again, if you did things like test their coordination, they still, they'll still do poorly depending on their alcohol level," says Dr. Marraffa.

The main problems with combining alcohol and energy drinks are:

• The stimulant provided by caffeine masks that depressants in the alcohol, which makes people feel less intoxicated.
• Because people feel more awake and less intoxicated, they confuse the energy that they have with alertness.
• Lastly, people continue to do normal things like drive while under the influence of Four Loko, because they feel alert, thereby endangering their lives and the lives of others.

After consuming these drinks, people display the same measures of intoxication as they would have if had they consumed any other alcoholic drink. The difference though, between Four Loko and other alcoholic beverages, is that the stimulant on the energy drink overpowers the depressant in the alcohol, so people feel sober when consuming this beverage, and may not realize that they are slurring their words or are weaving in and out of lanes on a road.

Dr. Marraffa says that she thinks that it is important for the FDA to either reevaluate or ban this product because of its high alcohol content: one can of Four Loko has the alcohol equivalent of the amount of alcohol in two 12-ounce beers.

Though Marraffa has not seen any cases of alcohol poisoning directly related to Four Loko, herself, she has seen a multitude of alcohol poisoning cases that resulted from people mixing their energy drinks with alcohol themselves.