In recent years, there has been an increase in the consumption of energy drinks, containing besides calories, other ingredients suspected to boost mental, emotional and physical alertness of the consumers. Such drinks are widely consumed by young people for a variety of reasons. However, from a public health point of view, little seems to be understood of the health benefits and other implications of these drinks by their consumers. Therefore, the understanding that energy drinks have stimulating properties that can boost heart beat rate and blood pressure, dehydrate the body, aggravate the effects of other stimulants, and prevent sleep may help as a decision making tools for the consumers of such products. This review examines some of the important active ingredients of energy drinks, their origins, sources, benefits and side effects. It is concluded that energy drinks, despite the variations in brand name contain bio-active ingredients; therefore further research is needed on their potential hazards.

Little is known about the prevalence and motives of sport drinks use among adolescents and young adult athletes who exercise on regular basis in most football and other games pitches. Therefore, the current study was performed to assess information regarding the use of sport drinks among 440 athletes (23.5±4.62 years of age) in Kano Nigeria. Data were collected using a selfadministered, structured and pretested questionnaire. The results indicated that the frequency of sport drinks consumption was higher among male athletes and in those who did not have breakfast on a regular basis, ever smoked cigarettes and drank alcoholic beverages compared with their female counterparts. Athletes who had 'ever' tried a sport drink were significantly higher (p<0.05) than those who had 'never' tasted the drink. Main reasons for using such drinks for regular users varied across the selected groups of athletes and included obtaining energy and boosting performance while doing sport. Most athletes claimed to be aware of the ingredients of sport drinks or their potential hazardous health effects, and that they could distinguish between sport and energy drinks. This study discovered that energy drinks were consumed by the athletes rather than sport drinks and that sport drinks are still alien to the study community as they are not commonly available in the market. This stands in strong contrast to the assumption that athletes consumed sport drinks. Therefore, increased awareness among the athletes of the discrepancies, ingredients and potential health hazards of both sport and energy drinks should be sustained.

No abstract