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A new study funded by the University of Florida shows that mixing alcohol and energy drinks can be a recipe for disaster. While students down popular combinations like Red Bull and vodka without a second thought, Professor and Director of toxicology at the UF College of Medicine, Bruce Goldberg, says these trendy drinks can lead to a lot of trouble. It is precisely these dangers that prompted the University of Florida to begin investigating.

Lead researcher and Associate Professor at the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions, Dennis Thombs, said the research, which is funded by the UF Office of the President, began elsewhere--drink specials--and that a study on energy drinks and alcohol was an after thought. The study is the first of its kind to examine college drinkers in a night-time environment. Data was collected from over 800 randomly select red drinkers leaving the Midtown bars between 10 PM and 3 AM.

The results were startling. The study found that college-aged students who left the bars after drinking alcohol mixed with energy drinks were three times more likely to be highly intoxicated, and four times more likely to intend on driving.

The research was released as at appropriate time -- Thomb says the FDA is currently investigating pre-mixed alcohol and energy drinks.

Traditional studies on alcohol use questionnaires on sober people -- so how did the researcher handle working with intoxicated young adults? Thombs, says the patrons were eager to participate. The researchers, who waited outside the bars in "Alcohol Research" shirts provided participants with t-shirts and food.

The average blood-alcohol concentration for those patrons was 0.109, well over the legal driving limit of point 0.08. Goldberg says when consuming alcohol and caffeine together, partiers are often unaware of how intoxicated they really are, a phenomenon he calls "Wide Awake and Drunk."

With experts saying as many as 28-percent of college drinks consume alcohol mixed with energy drinks in a typical month, the potential for damage is huge. Thomb says this study is just the beginning -- the researchers are planning future studies to better quantify the caffeine content in the body.