Commentary on Marczinski and colleagues: mixing an energy drink with an alcoholic beverage increases motivation for more alcohol in college students.
BACKGROUND
This commentary discusses the study by Marczinski and colleagues in which they used an alcohol priming procedure to examine the effects of an alcohol/energy drink mixture on the priming effect.


METHODS
The significance of the main findings from this study and new avenues of investigation are discussed.


RESULTS
Using an alcohol priming paradigm, Marczinski and colleagues report that an alcohol/energy drink combination (AmED) prolongs the desire-to-drink rating compared with alcohol alone.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this laboratory study add to the growing body of literature that the intoxicating effects of AmED are different than the intoxication by alcohol alone.