Consumption of Energy Drinks and its Association with its Adverse Effect among Medical Students: A Correlational Study

Background and objective

Energy drinks (ED) are refreshments with fortified nutrition. In 1987 Austria, Red Bull was first introduced and their usage was continuously increased. From the day of its origin, the popularity of energy drinks has increased aggressively, as 500 new brands were launched in 2006 globally. Sales of these energy drinks have increased 240% between 2004 and 2009. This study was designed to determine association of consumption of energy drinks with its adverse effect among medical students.

Methods

This study was conducted at Aziz Fatimah Medical and Dental College Faisalabad. The study was conducted in 6 months after approval from Institutional Education Committee with ERC no IEC/138-21. The data was retrieved from Google forms. Frequency was obtained from the data and for the qualitative analysis; we applied the Karl Pearson coefficient of correlation and P-value <0.05 was considered significant.

Results

In this study, questionnaire was shared among the 250 students but only 237 completed responses were received. Out of 237, there were 164(69.2%) females and 73(30.8%) were males. It was found that out of 237 samples, students using energy drink were 156(65.8%). Sting was the most consumed brand in our study with the frequency of 113(72.4%) out of 156 students. Students who consume energy drinks think that it helps them to concentrate, decrease tiredness, reduce headache, improve mood and help them to stay awake with a positive correlation.

Conclusion

A significant relationship was observed among ED consumers with the different side effects.