From all reports, Four Loko is not consumed for its taste, which is reportedly awful. It’s consumed for its buzz — its caffeine/alcohol combo. But, drinking one 23.5 ounce can (the can that looks like a 24 ounce regular beer) is the same as drinking five beers or five, 5-ounce glasses of wine or five, 1.5 ounce shots of tequila — in other words, five standard drinks. Five!
Given it takes the liver an average of 1 hour to process 1 standard drink — that’s about 5 hours to rid the brain and body of the alcohol contained in 1 Four Loco — no wonder people are being hospitalized and/or doing “things” they just wouldn’t do after drinking one or two and in one reported case, three in one hour.
So what would knowing how much is in the can do? First of all, for those who are trying to drink responsibly (safely), the math required to figure out ABV (alcohol by volume) in any given drink is something else. Consider this from the blogger, The Discovering Alcoholic, “If you do the math of what one Four Loko has in it compared to one Bud Lite that you can by in my home state (Alabama), the numbers work out like this – 1 12oz Bud Lite has 4.2 ABV so … if we multiply that by almost 3 (AVB at 12%) and then double for the number of ounces (24) your over the 5 beer mark.”
Second reason to support standard drink labels (which is as simple as, “SD = 5″) — it may give a person pause. Pause to consider, “Hum, 5 drinks, maybe I should have a 24-ounce regular beer (SD=2), instead.”
We must do something to raise awareness that not all alcoholic beverages (whether a drink poured at a bar or drinks in a container) are alike. Not only might standard drink labels give pause to the person choosing the “drink,” it will help those who are in their company.
If a friend or family member is watching their friend or family member consume two drinks, such as a margarita, for example, with standard drink labels showing each one contains three standard drinks, that person will understand their friend has not just had a “couple,” they’ve had six. With this information, s/he might elect not to take a ride home with that person. And if their friend passes out after three Four Lokos, they can quickly do the math and rush their friend to the hospital, recognizing their friend has had 15 drinks and could die in the fifteen hours it will take for their liver to process “just” three Four Lokos.
Related Link: March 15, 2010, KQED, With a Perspective, What’s In That Drink ?
Given the recent articles in a number of newspapers, news programs and online regarding the hospitalizations of young drinkers of the caffeinated alcoholic beverage, Four Loko, the call by 18 state attorneys general for the Food and Drug Administration to investigate its safety and Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s formal request of the state’s 17,000 licensed beer distributors to stop selling high-alcohol energy drinks , the idea of a standard drink label, again, comes to mind. Why?
From all reports, Four Loko is not consumed for its taste, which is reportedly awful. It’s consumed for its buzz — its caffeine/alcohol combo. But, drinking one 23.5 ounce can (the can that looks like a 24 ounce regular beer) is the same as drinking five beers or five, 5-ounce glasses of wine or five, 1.5 ounce shots of tequila — in other words, five standard drinks. Five!
Given it takes the liver an average of 1 hour to process 1 standard drink — that’s about 5 hours to rid the brain and body of the alcohol contained in 1 Four Loco — no wonder people are being hospitalized and/or doing “things” they just wouldn’t do after drinking one or two and in one reported case, three in one hour.
So what would knowing how much is in the can do? First of all, for those who are trying to drink responsibly (safely), the math required to figure out ABV (alcohol by volume) in any given drink is something else. Consider this from the blogger, The Discovering Alcoholic, “If you do the math of what one Four Loko has in it compared to one Bud Lite that you can by in my home state (Alabama), the numbers work out like this – 1 12oz Bud Lite has 4.2 ABV so … if we multiply that by almost 3 (AVB at 12%) and then double for the number of ounces (24) your over the 5 beer mark.”
Second reason to support standard drink labels (which is as simple as, “SD = 5″) — it may give a person pause. Pause to consider, “Hum, 5 drinks, maybe I should have a 24-ounce regular beer (SD=2), instead.”
We must do something to raise awareness that not all alcoholic beverages (whether a drink poured at a bar or drinks in a container) are alike. Not only might standard drink labels give pause to the person choosing the “drink,” it will help those who are in their company.
If a friend or family member is watching their friend or family member consume two drinks, such as a margarita, for example, with standard drink labels showing each one contains three standard drinks, that person will understand their friend has not just had a “couple,” they’ve had six. With this information, s/he might elect not to take a ride home with that person. And if their friend passes out after three Four Lokos, they can quickly do the math and rush their friend to the hospital, recognizing their friend has had 15 drinks and could die in the fifteen hours it will take for their liver to process “just” three Four Lokos.
Related Link: March 15, 2010, KQED, With a Perspective, What’s In That Drink ?