08/05/2008

Psychology Professor Quoted in TIME Magazine on the Dangers of Mixing Caffeine and Alcohol

Mark Fillmore, associate professor of psychology, University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, has been quoted in TIME magazine on the dangers of mixing alcoholic drinks with large doses of caffeine. Many popular new drinks such as caffeinated beer and "energy drinks" with high levels of both caffeine and alcohol are targeted toward young people. Drinkers, under the false impression that caffeine lessens alcohol impairment, may try to operate vehicles or undertake other risky tasks.

According to TIME, "[i]n a 2002 Journal of Studies on Alcohol paper, Fillmore and his colleagues demonstrated this point: people who expected caffeine in their booze to do the compensating work for them scored significantly worse on psychomotor tests than did a group told that caffeine would have no effect. The latter group controlled themselves more."

The complete TIME article can be found here. For more information on the research conducted at the University of Kentucky, contact Mark Fillmore at mtfill2@uky.edu.

-- Allison Elliott UK Public Relations