MillerCoors agreed to put the production of an alcoholic energy drink on hold last week after receiving a letter from Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard and 24 other attorneys general urging them not to release the Sparks Red drink onto the market.
“This is a positive first step, but it’s not enough,” said Anne Hilby, the Arizona attorney general’s press secretary.
Sparks Red has a higher level of alcohol by volume compared to the other types of Sparks drinks, raising serious concerns about health and safety risks, according to the attorney general.
The drink has come under fire because the attorneys general say studies show mixing alcohol with stimulants, such as caffeine, can reduce drinkers’ perception of intoxication and enable them to think they can function without impairment.
After Goddard and 28 state attorneys general sent a similar letter to Anheuser-Busch in May 2007, the company stopped production of Spykes, their alcoholic energy drink.
“These drinks pose health and safety risks. They can make people misperceive how drunk they are, perceiving they’re sober enough to drive,” Hilby said.
Consumption of alcoholic energy drinks also correlates with increased instances of binge drinking among college students, Hilby said.
Keith Martin, assistant professor of nutrition, said he agrees with the attorneys’ push to keep these drinks from the marketplace. He said the amount of caffeine in a can of Sparks is almost the same as a cup of coffee. Martin worked in the beverage industry for two years and said alcoholic energy drinks are deceptive to the human body, in the same way that coffee after a night of drinking does not increase sobriety.
“You may feel alert, but it gives you a false sense of security,” Martin said. “You break your arm and take meds so you don’t feel pain anymore, but pain is there for a reason.”
Sparks and other alcoholic energy drinks have latched onto the popularity of Red Bull, but the “flashy and gimmicky” marketing behind these drinks might not necessarily match what the companies promise, Martin said.
It hasn’t been proven these drinks enhance overall performance, and there is no evidence that energy drinks with alcohol are safe, he said.
“People are buying into beneficial effects that are not proven to be beneficial,” Martin said.
Sparks contains taurine, ginseng and guaranara, which he said, are not treated the same by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as food and pharmaceuticals.
“You can market those things, but you don’t have to demonstrate they are safe,” Martin said.
Broadcast journalism junior Brenton Scott said sometimes his friends drink alcoholic energy drinks. When they drink them, he said they have effects other than the normal effects of drinking, such as twitching.
“A severe upper with a sever downer is never a good thing,” Scott said.
Reach the reporter at philip.haldiman@asu.edu.
