Elsevier

Nutrition

Volume 27, Issue 3, March 2011, Pages 316-322
Nutrition

Applied nutritional investigation
Energy-drink consumption in college students and associated factors

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nut.2010.02.008Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective

To investigate the frequency of energy-drink consumption and associated factors in a group of college students.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted in Hacettepe University (Ankara, Turkey) and included 439 students pursuing a career in medicine, sports, and arts. Only fourth-year students were approached. Data were collected using a self-administered standard questionnaire.

Results

In bivariate analyses, frequency of energy-drink consumption was higher in students of arts and sports and in those who did not have breakfast on a regular basis, ever smoked cigarettes, drank alcoholic beverages, and regularly engaged in sports compared with their counterparts. Many students who had “ever” tried an energy drink did so the first time because they wondered about its taste. Of regular users of energy drinks, reasons for using such drinks varied across the three selected groups of students and included obtaining getting energy, staying awake, boosting performance while doing sports, or mixing with alcoholic beverages. About 40% of all current users of energy drinks reported that they mixed those with alcoholic beverages. In multivariate analyses, statistically significant predictors of energy-drink consumption were faculty type, presence of any health insurance, use of alcoholic beverages, and monthly income, controlling for gender. Most students could not correctly define the ingredients of energy drinks or their potential hazardous health effects, and they could not distinguish energy and sports drinks when they were requested to select them from a list of commercial names of various drinks.

Conclusion

Consumption of energy drinks, despite the variation in the reason for choosing such drinks, is quite common in college students. Awareness of university students of the ingredients and potential health hazards of energy drinks, in particular in mixing with alcoholic beverages, should be increased.

Introduction

Fluids are a vital requirement for humans, but fluid intake can be obtained from a variety of fluid sources other than water. The selection of appropriate fluids, timing of the intake, and supplement choices are important for optimal health, especially in young people.

The Beverage Guidance Panel, initiated by Popkin et al. [1] aims to provide guidance on the relative health and nutritional benefits and risks of various beverage categories. Popkin et al. [1] reported that in the United States daily calorie intake has recently increased about 150–300 kcal, with approximately 50% of the increase coming from the consumption of sweetened beverages. Although still a relatively small proportion in total fluid intake, the absolute rate of energy-drink use has been increasing significantly, especially in young individuals. Energy drinks are beverages (e.g., Red Bull, Venom, Burn, and Adrenaline Rush) that contain large doses of caffeine and other legal stimulants such as taurine, carbohydrates, glucuronolactone, inositol, niacin, panthenol, and β-complex vitamins. Hundreds of different brands on the market have high caffeine content, ranging from a modest 50 mg to an alarming 505 mg per can or bottle [2].

Energy drinks have been found to improve attention and/or reaction times and indices of alertness in some studies; the combination of caffeine and glucose can ameliorate deficits in cognitive performance and subjective fatigue during extended periods of cognitive demand. However, several ingredients of energy drinks, with sucrose and caffeine taking the lead, may have unwanted health consequences in youngsters and should be used carefully. Energy drinks have stimulating properties that can boost heart rate and blood pressure, dehydrate the body, may aggravate the effects of other stimulants, and prevent sleep. Unlike sports drinks (the use of which is supported for athletes), energy drinks should not be used while exercising because the combination of fluid loss, sweating, and the diuretic quality of the caffeine can leave the user severely dehydrated [2], [3], [4], [5].

Such drinks are widely consumed by young people, by college students, in particular, for a variety of reasons. Even more important from a public health point of view, international studies have indicated that mixing energy drinks with alcohol is fairly frequent among college students [6], [7], [8]. Mixing energy drinks with alcohol may be dangerous given the stimulant nature of energy drinks and depressant characteristics of the alcohol. The stimulant effect can mask how intoxicated a person is and prevent individuals from realizing how much they drink. The stimulated person seems alert and even companions cannot recognize “whether the person had enough alcohol”: the blood alcohol concentration would be the same as in others; and as the stimulant effect wears off, the depressant effects of alcohol will become prominent, a person may vomit and even have respiratory depression. Moreover, alcohol and energy drinks are very dehydrating and together will hinder the body's ability to metabolize alcohol and further increase the toxicity of alcohol [2], [3], [9], [10].

Although energy drinks are mainly targeted to young adult consumers, there has been little research regarding effects of energy-drink consumption by college students and the potential for related health hazards [6], [7], [9], [11]. Observations have suggested that young adults can easily access energy drinks and use energy drinks frequently, but there is scarce evidence on the reasons why they consume energy drinks and whether they are aware of the potential health hazards.

This study examined the frequency of consumption of energy drinks in a group of university students selected from different faculties, who were hypothesized to have different consumption habits, and investigated the factors for preferring such drinks. The study also examined students' level of knowledge on ingredients and on potential health hazards of energy drinks. Last but not least, we reviewed related international work to compare and contrast local findings to encourage further discussion on the importance of energy-drink consumption in college students from a public health perspective and to brainstorm for potential interventions for the future.

Section snippets

Materials and methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted in students attending three colleges of Hacettepe University (Ankara, Turkey). It is important to note that the study aimed primarily to calculate consumption rates in various faculties, being mainly descriptive in nature, with no specific a priori hypotheses, but with an ultimate objective of screening/generating some hypotheses on potential risk factors of energy-drink consumption and related patterns (if any) [12]. School selection was based on the

Results

The study included 439 college students, with ages from 19 to 39 y, with a mean ± standard deviation of 22.8 ± 2.09 y (median 22 y). Distribution of age was quite homogenous in the FoM group, but varied widely in the CoA group. Table 1 presents the distribution of sociodemographic characteristics of study participants. Of the group, more than half were students in the FoM (n = 254), 94 students were from the CoA, and 91 students were from the CoS. The study aimed to include fourth-year students

Discussion

The energy-drink market has grown exponentially over the past decade. The absence of regulatory oversight in many countries has resulted in aggressive marketing of energy drinks over the world, targeted primarily toward young adults (men in particular).

Using energy drinks is a popular practice among college students for a variety of situations: to compensate for insufficient sleep, to increase energy, while studying, while driving for long periods, drinking with alcohol while partying, and to

Conclusions

The use of energy drinks is quite common among college students but their knowledge of ingredients and potential health hazards of such drinks is very limited. Parents, teachers, health educators, and media professionals should take responsibility to educate the public (youngsters, in particular) about the health hazards of energy drinks and to increase motivation for a healthy diet.

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge Drs. Mahir Seyrek, Ozan Baris Nadaroglu, Mehmet Cal, and Ali Vefa Sayrac for their precious efforts in collection of field data and conduction of the preliminary statistical analyses during their internship.

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