Energy drink mixed with alcohol makes you more drunk? It's all in the mind

Do you think mixing a can of Red Bull in the vodka cocktail can make you more drunk and uninhibited? It can, but only if you think so, suggests new research.

When told an energy drink was mixed in their vodka cocktails, the participants in the study said they felt more intoxicated, daring, and sexually self-confident.

The effects of intoxication were stronger in those who believe that energy drinks boost the effect of liquor, said the study published online in the Journal of Consumer Psychology.

"Red Bull has long used the slogan 'Red Bull gives you wings', but our study shows that this type of advertising can make people think it has intoxicating qualities when it doesn't," said lead author Yann Cornil, Assistant Professor of the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, in Canada.

"Essentially, when alcohol is mixed with an energy drink and people are aware of it, they feel like they're more intoxicated simply because the marketing says they should feel that way," Cornil said. Read More