A survey of energy drink consumption patterns among college students

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Energy drink consumption has continued to gain in popularity since the 1997 debut of Red Bull, the current leader in the energy drink market. Although energy drinks are targeted to young adult consumers, there has been little research regarding energy drink consumption patterns among college students in the United States. The purpose of this study was to determine energy drink consumption patterns among college students, prevalence and frequency of energy drink use for six situations, namely for insufficient sleep, to increase energy (in general), while studying, driving long periods of time, drinking with alcohol while partying, and to treat a hangover, and prevalence of adverse side effects and energy drink use dose effects among college energy drink users.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Based on the responses from a 32 member college student focus group and a field test, a 19 item survey was used to assess energy drink consumption patterns of 496 randomly surveyed college students attending a state university in the Central Atlantic region of the United States.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Fifty one percent of participants (<it>n </it>= 253) reported consuming greater than one energy drink each month in an average month for the current semester (defined as energy drink user). The majority of users consumed energy drinks for insufficient sleep (67%), to increase energy (65%), and to drink with alcohol while partying (54%). The majority of users consumed one energy drink to treat most situations although using three or more was a common practice to drink with alcohol while partying (49%). Weekly jolt and crash episodes were experienced by 29% of users, 22% reported ever having headaches, and 19% heart palpitations from consuming energy drinks. There was a significant dose effect only for jolt and crash episodes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Using energy drinks is a popular practice among college students for a variety of situations. Although for the majority of situations assessed, users consumed one energy drink with a reported frequency of 1 – 4 days per month, many users consumed three or more when combining with alcohol while partying. Further, side effects from consuming energy drinks are fairly common, and a significant dose effect was found with jolt and crash episodes. Future research should identify if college students recognize the amounts of caffeine that are present in the wide variety of caffeine-containing products that they are consuming, the amounts of caffeine that they are consuming in various situations, and the physical side effects associated with caffeine consumption.</p

Evaluating the effects of a nutrition education program on the consumption of omega -3 fatty acids for heart patients

To assess changes in food sources of omega-3 fatty acids by heart patients participating in a nutrition education program. To increase omega-3 fatty acid intakes and knowledge of omega-3 fatty acids in heart patients. Experimental design with repeated measures. The outcome measure was dietary omega-3 fatty acid intakes in g/day. Results are also given on servings of foods providing omega-3 fatty acids from eleven food groups. The major methods for collecting data were an omega-3 fatty acid food frequency questionnaire, a demographic form, a medical history form, and a decisional balance worksheet. The food frequency questionnaire was administered at baseline, one month post (midpoint), and two months post (end). Participants were 36 adults (15 males, 21 females) recruited from a local heart clinic. This was an eight week study that included a two hour omega-3 fatty acid nutrition education program during week one. Decisional Balance was used during the second week of the program in a one-on-one meeting with a registered dietitian for participants in the intervention group A. Members of the intervention group B received a follow-up phone call during the second week instead. Both groups received follow-up telephone calls at weeks three and seven. The omega-3 fatty acid daily intakes were determined using Microsoft Excel, 2000 package. Two-way repeated measures ANOVAs with post-hoc tests, Least Significant Difference were used to assess differences in dietary omega-3 fatty acid intake over time. Post-hoc tests indicated a significant increase in omega-3 fatty acid intakes between baseline and midpoint (P \u3c .001), and from baseline and end (P \u3c .014). This study depicts omega-3 fatty acid intakes in Midwestern heart patients. This nutrition education program was designed to increase participants omega-3 fatty acid intakes and knowledge and could be used by health care providers who work with populations that will benefit from consuming more dietary omega-3 fatty acids. These results can facilitate future omega-3 fatty acid interventions, and also offer clinical applications by identifying foods that may be beneficial to change

Development and pilot testing of an omega-3 fatty acid food frequency questionnaire

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential to health and provide cardio-protective benefits. To estimate omega-3 fatty acid dietary intake, we developed a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and pilot tested its reliability and validity in a convenience sample of cardiac patients in the Midwest. The FFQ was developed using the USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference and the ESHA Food Processor, ESHA Research, Salem, Oregon. Three 24-h recalls and two administrations of the FFQ two weeks apart were obtained by a dietitian by phone and home visit from 28 volunteers. Pearson correlation was used to assess the association between food recalls and FFQ. Alpha coefficient was used to assess reliability of the FFQ. The correlation of omega-3 fatty acids intake using the food recalls and FFQ was 0.42 (P\u3c0.05). Reliability of the FFQ was 0.83 with the food categories ranging from 0.93 for grains to 0.57 for vegetables. Ninety percent of omega-3 fatty acid intake was provided by 28 foods, with the top two food sources from plant origin. The FFQ yielded excellent reliability and acceptable validity in the population tested and can be used to estimate total omega-3 fatty acid intake from plant, animal, and seafood sources in the diets of cardiac patients

A survey of energy drink consumption patterns among college students

Background: Energy drink consumption has continued to gain in popularity since the 1997 debut of Red Bull the current leader in the energy drink market. Although energy drinks are targeted to young adult consumers there has been little research regarding energy drink consumption patterns among college students in the United States. The purpose of this study was to determine energy drink consumption patterns among college students prevalence and frequency of energy drink use for six situations namely for insufficient sleep to increase energy (in general) while studying driving long periods of time drinking with alcohol while partying and to treat a hangover and prevalence of adverse side effects and energy drink use dose effects among college energy drink users. Methods: Based on the responses from a 32 member college student focus group and a field test a 19 item survey was used to assess energy drink consumption patterns of 496 randomly surveyed college students attending a state university in the Central Atlantic region of the United States. Results: Fifty one percent of participants (n = 253) reported consuming greater than one energy drink each month in an average month for the current semester (defined as energy drink user). The majority of users consumed energy drinks for insufficient sleep (67%) to increase energy (65%) and to drink with alcohol while partying (54%). The majority of users consumed one energy drink to treat most situations although using three or more was a common practice to drink with alcohol while partying (49%). Weekly jolt and crash episodes were experienced by 29% of users 22% reported ever having headaches and 19% heart palpitations from consuming energy drinks. There was a significant dose effect only for jolt and crash episodes. Conclusion: Using energy drinks is a popular practice among college students for a variety of situations. Although for the majority of situations assessed users consumed one energy drink with a reported frequency of 1 – 4 days per month many users consumed three or more when combining with alcohol while partying. Further side effects from consuming energy drinks are fairly common and a significant dose effect was found with jolt and crash episodes. Future research should identify if college students recognize the amounts of caffeine that are present in the wide variety of caffeine-containing products that they are consuming the amounts of caffeine that they are consuming in various situations and the physical side effects associated with caffeine consumption. Originally published Nutrition Journal Vol. 6 No. 35 Oct 200