Red Bull® energy drink increases consumption of higher concentrations of alcohol.

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.

Primeros casos de « burries o mulas» de cocaína líquida en fallecidos / First cases of deceased burriers due to liquid cocaine

La detección de paquetes de cocaína intracorporal en forma sólida en fallecidos, es común desde hace años. La rotura de alguno de estos envases produce la muerte por intoxicación aguda como consecuencia de la sustancia que contienen. Presentamos 2 casos de fallecidos en que la forma de presentación es líquida. Esta nueva modalidad de presentación de la droga añade además la peligrosidad de las sustancias utilizadas como diluyente (AU)

The detection of intracorporeal packets of drugs in solid form in deceased people has been common for years. The breaking of some of these containers causes death by poisoning because of the substance they contain. We present two cases of deceased people in which the presentation form is liquid. Furthermore, this new modality of presenting the drug also adds the danger of the substances used as the diluent (AU)