The alcoholic energy drink Four Loko (produced by Phusion Projects, LLC) has been making national headlines lately after nine Central Washington University students were hospitalized after consuming several cans of the drink (and possibly other hard liquor or drugs). Also it was banned in Michigan and several college campuses such as the University of Rhode Island. Several states, such as New York and Oregon, are following Michigan’s lead and pushing for Four Loko sales bans.
A can of Four Loko, known by many college students as “blackout in a can,” is 23.5 ounces and 12 percent alcohol by volume—that means that one can has the same amount of alcohol as a 6-pack of light beer and as much caffeine as two cups of coffee.
As Dr. Sol Sepsenwol of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point’s Biology department puts it, “Four Loko is 12 percent alcohol in a 24 ounce can—that’s a bottle of 10 percent wine per can. Given that it’s flavored like soda, that people usually don’t sip soda from cans and that caffeine and taurine delay the dizziness and nausea associated with feeling drunk, it’s a perfect comb
A story on National Public Radio (NPR) recently discussed Four Lokos and said that one can has the caffeine content of six 12 ounce Cokes. The story touched on Michael Pollan’s book “In Defense of Food,” which says that Americans are visual eaters (we eat until the plate or drink is empty or gone) which is unlike, say, the French or Italians who eat until they are full or have a drink with a meal. College students tend not to drink one can of something, and the students from the Central Washington University case allegedly overdosed on as few as two cans of Four Loko.
