Energy Drink Consumption and Associations With Demographic Characteristics, Drug Use and Injury Among Adolescents

Abstract

, a 16% increase over the previous year. 2 Caffeine is the primary active ingredient in energy drinks, but the level of caffeine content varies widely across the many brands sold. 1,3 The caffeine content per 250 mL of an energy drink is usually 80-140 mg or the equivalent of two cans of cola or a 6-oz to 8-oz cup of coffee. [3][4][5] There are, however, energy drinks with caffeine content of up to 500 mg per can. 3,4 Additional ingredients include amino acid, vitamins, herbs, and other supplements purported to boost energy, alertness, and mental performance. 6 The short-and long-term health effects of many of these ingredients, and energy drink consumption in general, are for the most part unknown. 1,[7][8][9] Energy drinks are often aggressively marketed to adolescents through carefully crafted campaigns, including sponsorship of events that appeal to this age group (e.g., snowboarding), and product placement in video games and social media. 4,10,11 Easy access from a convenience store, appealing names (e.g., Red Bull®, Rockstar®, Full Throttle®), product claims of greater stamina, alertness and energy, 12 and perceptions of energy drinks as a "legal drug", 13 make these drinks particularly appealing to adolescents. Reports indicate that the main consumers of energy drinks are adolescents and young adults, 6,7 with between 30% and 50% of adolescents and young adults consuming energy drinks. 7,11 Yet, there is relatively little empirical data on the health and behavioural effects of energy drinks. There is research indicating that energy drink consumption helps to improve attention, maintain or improve performance on some difficult activities, and decrease reaction times. 14,15 There is also evidence of adverse consequences such as seizures, difficulty sleeping, cardiac arrhythmia, and even death. 1,6,7 In the US, there was a twofold increase in the number of visits to emergency departments between 2007 (10,068 visits) and 2011 (20,783 visits) that involved energy drinks, with 12-17 year olds accounting for 11.4% and 7.2% of those visits in 2007 and 2011, respectively. 16 In addition to questions about the health effects of energy drinks, there are questions about the demographic, social, and behavioural correlates of energy drink consumption among adolescents. The sparse research that has been conducted suggests that the consumption of energy drinks is correlated with heavy alcohol use, licit and illicit drug use, impulsivity, and risk-taking behaviours, including fighting and risky sexual behaviours. 7,10,[17][18][19] ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE: To examine energy drink consumption and its association with demographic characteristics, drug use, and injury among adolescents. METHODS:Data on 4,342 adolescents were derived from the 2011 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey, a province-wide school-based survey of students in grades 7 through 12. The survey was based on a two-stage cluster design and analyses include appropriate adjustments for the complex sample design. RESULTS:Overall, 49.6% of adolescents had ...

Energy-drink consumption and its relationship with substance use and sensation seeking among 10th grade students in Istanbul

“…These estimates of ED use are similar to prevalence rates reported in a few samples of high school students in North America (Hamilton et al, 2013;Kumar et al, 2014;Terry-McElrath et al, 2014). One possible explanation for this high rates is that ED might be regarded by some students as safer, more normative, or more socially acceptable than using illicit ''street'' drugs, perhaps because they think of EDs as being both legal to purchase and ostensibly safe to use (Arria et al, 2008).…”

“…Weekly or daily ED consumption was strongly associated with alcohol dependence . Consistent with these findings gained from university populations, recent survey studies conducted among high school students in Canada (Hamilton et al, 2013; and America (Terry-McElrath et al, 2014) suggested a strong association between ED consumption and substance use. Several studies also suggest that caffeine (Collins et al, 1997;Pallanti et al, 2006) and caffeine containing EDs (Reissig et al, 2009;Arria et al, 2008) may serve as a gateway to other forms of drug dependence.…”

“…Sensation-seeking has long been recognized as an important risk factor for substance use problems in adolescents (Tarter et al, 1999). Consistent with these survey studies conducted in North America suggested that ED consumption was highly associated with sensation-seeking (Hamilton et al, 2013;Terry-McElrath et al, 2014) and that adolescent groups with high sensation-seeking may be particularly likely to consume ED and to be substance users (Terry-McElrath et al, 2014). All of these studies that were conducted in North America did not controlled psychological symptoms and selfdestructive behaviors on relationship between the consumption of ED and substance use among high school students.…”

“…Results from studies conducted among high school students are similar. A survey study conducted in Ontario Canada in 2011 among 4342 students in grades 7 through 12 showed that 49.6% of adolescents had consumed EDs in the previous year and 19.1% had consumed ED in the previous week (Hamilton et al, 2013). In a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2012 among students in grades 7, 9, 10 and 12 attending public schools in Atlantic Canada, nearly two-thirds (62%) reported consuming ED at least once in the previous year, while about 20% reporting use once or more per month .…”

Weekly Energy Drink Use Is Positively Associated with Delay Discounting and Risk Behavior in a Nationwide Sample of Young Adults

“…Although recent nationwide data on energy drink consumption are scarce, some researchers estimate that over 18% of young adults consume energy drinks at least weekly, 2 and, among college students, this percentage may be as high as 39%. 3 Emerging evidence points to a relationship between energy drink use and various risk behaviors, including alcohol abuse, 2-10 cigarette smoking, 2,6-9,11-13 illicit drug use, 2,6-9,11-13 nonmedical use of prescription drugs, 5,6,8,11,14 fighting, 8 and sexual risk behavior. 8 One of the primary aims of this study was to replicate and extend these findings.…”