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Drinking vodka with Red Bull has a similar effect on the brain as taking cocaine, experts warn.

Mixing highly caffeinated energy drinks with alcohol has a mind-altering effect on teenagers which lasts into adulthood, scientists have claimed.

Drinks such as Red Bull and Monster contain as much as ten times the caffeine as soft drinks and are often marketed at adolescents.

A team of American researchers used young mice to monitor the effects of mixing the drinks after studies showed Red Bull could ease psychosis in young people.

Dr Richard van Rijn, from Purdue University, Indiana, said: "It seems the two substances together push them over a limit that causes changes in their behaviour and changes the neurochemistry in their brains."

The team also detected increased levels of a protein called FosB, a signal of longterm changes in brain chemistry in drug users.