Drinking vodka and Red Bull on a night out can lead to ‘risky behaviour’, says study

We drank it a lot in college.

To be honest, you'd be hard pushed to find us knocking back the vodka Red Bulls these days but back in college when the drink was literally €2 a pop, what else was a broke student to do? However, we know that they're not the healthiest of drinks that we can consume on a night out and we're probably better sticking to our G&Ts than anything else. Last year, a study found that drinking a vodka Red Bull on a night out can lead to "risky behaviour" and fighting. Dr. Matt Parker, senior lecturer at the University of Portsmouth and co-author of the study told Science Daily that drinking alcohol with the energy drink can lead to "reduction of fear and problems in social communication while intoxicated, which collectively increase the risk of fighting, violence and participation in risky behaviours." The study was carried out on zebrafish, with the researchers dividing them into four shoals. One shoal was in water alone, while the second shoal was exposed to alcohol, the third was exposed to taurine (ingredient found in energy drinks including Red Bull) and the fourth shoal was exposed to a mixture of both alcohol and taurine. The shoal of fish that were exposed to both were found to have fewer interactions with each other and also swam close to danger zones therefor displaying "'risky behaviour', spending more time in the predator zone than other groups." Lesson learned. Do not drink vodka and Red Bull on a night out.