{"id":10787,"date":"2015-03-19T20:54:38","date_gmt":"2015-03-19T20:54:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=10787"},"modified":"2017-09-21T12:33:28","modified_gmt":"2017-09-21T12:33:28","slug":"flavored-alcohol-may-increase-risk-of-binge-drinking-related-injuries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2015\/03\/flavored-alcohol-may-increase-risk-of-binge-drinking-related-injuries\/","title":{"rendered":"Flavored alcohol may increase risk of binge drinking, related injuries"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A study published Wednesday found that consuming large flavored alcoholic beverages can increase risk for binge drinking and related alcohol injuries for underage drinkers. PHOTO BY EMILY ZABOSKI\/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Super-sized\u00a0flavored\u00a0alcoholic beverages can increase the risk of binge drinking and alcohol-related injuries for underage drinkers, researchers from Johns Hopkins University and Boston University found in a study, a Wednesday press release stated.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health on Feb. 25, found that underage drinkers who reported consuming malts, premixed cocktails and alcopops drank more on average and were more likely to experience \u201cepisodic heavy drinking,\u201d the report stated. About 1,000 people ages 13 to 20 were surveyed online.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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David Jernigan, an author of the study and director of the\u00a0Center\u00a0on Alcohol Marketing at Johns Hopkins, said heavier drinking occurs with these\u00a0flavored\u00a0beverages because of the serving sizes. Most of these beverages hold the equivalent of 4 to 5 beers in one container, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe particularly found the correlations between the largest size of these drinks and negative\u00a0behaviors\u00a0because one of these super-sized drinks is the equivalent of four to five beers,\u201d he said. \u201cEven though the can may have serving size though most don\u2019t, teens are treating them as a single serving. Some people in the field call it a binge in a can.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Study co-author Alison Albers, a professor in BU\u2019s School of Public Health, said the study brings up important issues and will help determine future policies.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThese findings raise important concerns about the popularity and use of\u00a0flavored\u00a0alcoholic beverages among young people, particularly for the supersized varieties,\u201d she said in the release. \u201cPublic health practitioners and policymakers would be wise to consider what further steps could be taken to keep these beverages out of the hands of youth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Jernigan said careful packaging should be implemented in the production of super-sized beverages.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe re-sealable top is more of a joke,\u201d he said. \u201cThese are being treated as a single serving, and the results suggest this may be a dangerous form of packaging.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Katharine Mooney, director of Wellness and Prevention Services at BU, said the university takes steps to prevent the overconsumption of alcohol.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe discourage against any kind of risky\u00a0behavior, and these oversized sugar sweetened beverages definitely all into the category of risky,\u201d she said. \u201c[It\u2019s] just like a punch bowl at a party.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mooney said because the drinks do not taste entirely like alcohol, it is difficult to determine how much alcohol is in them, which often leads to over drinking. Over drinking can affect students\u2019 physical, social and academic wellbeing.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Boston University Police Department has noted that the number of alcohol violations and transports for the spring 2015 semester has increased compared to numbers from the spring 2014 semester, The Daily Free Press reported Thursday.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mooney said BU Student Health Services tries to do whatever possible to inform students about the dangers of binge drinking and learn how to drink in a less dangerous way.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cOne of the things we work really hard to educate students about our standard drink portion. A standard beer has the same alcohol content as one shot,\u201d she said. \u201cA student needs to be particularly aware of what they are consuming when drinking these so that they don\u2019t drink more than they intend to.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Several students said they recognize how super-sized\u00a0flavored\u00a0drinks can be risky.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Brock Guzman, a freshman in the College of Engineering, said the drinks are popular because of their cheap prices, and because some items contain caffeine, young drinkers find them even more appealing.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s appealing because you can get really drunk and you stay awake,\u201d he said. \u201cThey have caffeine in them and don\u2019t really taste like alcohol.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Sergio Araujo, a junior in Metropolitan College, said he has seen a friend in a dangerous scenario after consuming Four\u00a0Loko, a popular super-sized alcoholic beverage. Though Four\u00a0Loko\u2019s\u00a0contents used to include caffeine, the company chose to remove caffeine from their product in 2010.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cOne guy I know drank them a lot, and he left a party alone, then he got lost in a snowstorm and was too drunk to find his way home,\u201d he said. \u201cHe almost had to sleep in the snow.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Jaqui\u00a0Manning, a freshman in the College of General Studies, said she has seen\u00a0firsthand\u00a0the consequences when others drink the types of alcoholic beverages described in the study, as well as the products that contain caffeine.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve heard a lot of people have had really bad experiences with them,\u201d she said. \u201cEspecially drinking them really fast is really dangerous because not only is there alcohol, but there is so much sugar and caffeine that goes into it, and your body sometimes can\u2019t handle it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Source:\u00a0\u00a0http:\/\/dailyfreepress.com\/flavored-alcohol<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 6th\u00a0March 2015<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Super-sized\u00a0flavored\u00a0alcoholic beverages can increase the risk of binge drinking and alcohol-related injuries for underage drinkers, researchers from Johns Hopkins University and Boston University found in a study, a Wednesday press release stated. The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health on Feb. 25, found that underage drinkers who reported consuming malts, premixed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,29,89,64,19,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-addiction","category-alcohol","category-environment-drug-politics","category-health","category-usa","category-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10787\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}