What do 4 lokos contain

But now, 12 years later, a lot has changed, making us ask once again, what is Four Loko? Four Loko has been a popular drink at colleges across the country for those who have been wanting to have a really, really good time or maybe just a really good buzz for years, but do we really know what's in it—or what it can do to your body?

Sure, you can shotgun them , but should you? The answer can be yours with just a little sleuthing, so read up before you head out to your next pregame. Four Loko's current recipe is a blend of malt liquor and "natural and artificial flavors. As far as alcohol content by volume ABV , that varies by state, with numbers ranging from eight to fourteen percent.

Okay, so it's not as strong as some of these strongest cocktails in the world , but I'm sure you could still get pretty tipsy after just one can. A few years ago, drinking a Four Loko was almost taboo. The allure of these drinks was due to the FDA's warning that adding caffeine, one of the former main ingredients in Four Loko drinks, is unsafe to add to malt liquor. Four Loko voluntarily changed the formula to the drink in , and this time it's back in stores without the caffeine.

Though some store owners are quick to point out that they're now selling less of the drink , I'd rather have a safer drink than one that sounds cool. CNN -- Neon, caffeinated alcohol drinks often boast exotic-sounding ingredients such as taurine, guarana, ginkgo, bitter orange and ginseng. These give the beverage manufacturers clever marketing strategies, but do little else, said pharmacology and nutrition experts.

The key ingredients in these drinks are alcohol and caffeine. The rest is "silly window dressing," said David Schardt, a senior nutritionist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Energy drinks became controversial after two colleges banned Four Loko, a caffeinated alcohol beverage, after students became ill. The name "Four" is derived from the major ingredients: caffeine, taurine, guarana and alcohol, according to Phusion Projects, Four Loko's maker.

These types of caffeinated alcoholic drinks fuse sugar-fructose mix, caffeine, alcohol with a blend of supplements. Some of the items -- taurine, guarana and certainly caffeine -- are major players. We don't really know all of their main effects. The amount of the herbal supplements in energy drinks are too small to have any kind of effect, said Kevin Clauson, an associate professor of pharmacy at Nova Southeastern University.

Many of the energy drinks do not list the percentage of ingredients, glossing them over as "proprietary blend," Clauson said. Taurine is a seemingly omnipresent natural amino acid, largely found in skeletal muscles. It is one of many building blocks involved in physiological functions in the liver, brain, central nervous system and heart. In Virginia, they were twice as likely to underestimate.

Four Loko, though, has faced some blowback about their labeling before. Phusion Projects complied with the changes, though Jaisen Freeman, co-founder, Phusion Projects, LLC told Consumerist that the company stood by the clarity of the packaging. Emma Betuel.

How much alcohol is in one can of Four Loko? More than 60 percent of undergrads sampled from Florida and Virginia underestimated how many drinks were in one can of Four Loko.

PAUL J. Related Tags Health Alcohol Drugs.