On TV, you hear a lot about the energy drink, Four Lokos. It comes in a 23.5-ounce can and in a variety of flavors. But what’s in it?

Each can contains the same amount of caffeine as is in five cups of coffee and an alcohol content equivalent to 3.9 beers. It also includes taurine and guarana, which are stimulating. On the street, this drink, or I should say, drug, is called Liquid Cocaine.

So, you don’t even have to ask what’s wrong with Four Lokos.

Think about it. If you weigh 150 pounds, and you drink three cans of this stuff, it’s like drinking 12 beers. Normally, three or four hours after drinking that much alcohol, you’d become so tired, or so very drunk, that you couldn’t drink anymore. But, drinking those three cans is also like having 15 cups of coffee and because of the high caffeine content, along with the taurine and guarana, you don’t get tired and you have the energy to keep right on drinking. The safeguards for overconsumption of alcohol are not in place. And, unlike alcohol, it tastes good…

College students are swigging down three of those things in one hour, and our bodies just can’t handle that much alcohol that quickly. So, these students end up with alcohol poisoning and in the emergency room.  I’ve seen it in my own practice.

I think even one drink is unhealthful…

Do the math. According to the law, two drinks are considered heavy drinking, and there are 3.9 drinks in every one of those Four Lokos cans. Keep that in mind. If you drink one, you’d better sip it very slowly and over a long period of time and only one Four Lokos is more than enough.

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