Doctoral Award Winner for 2014, Amy Peacock will be presented with her award and will then talk on her PhD Thesis: A Mixed Hazard: Does Consuming Energy Drinks Mixed with Alcohol Actually Increase Harms?
The Royal Society Room
19 Davey St Hobart (entry via Dunn St Car Park)
Tuesday 7 July 8.00 pm
All welcome
A Mixed Hazard: Does Consuming Energy Drinks Mixed with Alcohol Actually Increase Harms?
Alcohol mixed with energy drinks (AmED) is an increasingly popular consumption trend generating concern amongst researchers, health professionals, and policy-makers. It has been theorised that the stimulant effects of the energy drink mask the depressant effects of alcohol, causing reduced perception of intoxication, and increased alcohol-related harms, particularly in regards to behavioural risk-taking. Despite calls for further marketing and sales regulation, there is a lack of research investigating the consumption patterns, motivations for, and consequences of, AmED use, particularly for consumers in the general community. Key gaps in the current literature relate to the paucity of: (i) within-subject research assessing intoxication outcomes after AmED versus alcohol to determine whether consumers experience additional alcohol-related harms from co-ingestion, and (ii) experimental laboratory-based controlled research objectively assessing AmED and alcohol intoxication outcomes to examine the pharmacological effects of co-ingestion. This presentation will overview the results of a series of studies aimed at clarifying the effects of the combined beverage, including discussion of potential future public health reform.
Dr Amy Peacock is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychology at the University of Tasmania, having completed her PhD in 2014. Dr Peacock’s research interests relate to misuse of alcohol and other drugs. Her primary current projects include experimental research assessing the pharmacological effects of alcohol combined with other substances; field research monitoring alcohol harms in the night-time economy; and epidemiological research monitoring illicit drug trends and introduction of abuse-deterrent pharmaceutical opioid formulations. Dr Peacock was awarded the Tasmanian Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Emerging Researcher Award in 2014.
