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

Dieting practices, weight perceptions, and body composition: A comparison of normal weight, overweight, and obese college females

BACKGROUND: Of concern to health educators is the suggestion that college females practice diet and health behaviors that contradict the 2005 dietary guidelines for Americans. In this regard, there remain gaps in the research related to dieting among college females. Namely, do normal weight individuals diet differently from those who are overweight or obese, and are there dieting practices used by females that can be adapted to promote a healthy body weight? Since it is well recognized that females diet, this study seeks to determine the dieting practices used among normal, overweight, and obese college females (do they diet differently) and identify dieting practices that could be pursued to help these females more appropriately achieve and maintain a healthy body weight. METHODS: A total of 185 female college students aged 18 to 24 years participated in this study. Height, weight, waist and hip circumferences, and skinfold thickness were measured to assess body composition. Surveys included a dieting practices questionnaire and a 30-day physical activity recall. Participants were classified according to body mass index (BMI) as normal weight (n = 113), overweight (n = 35), or obese (n = 21). Data were analyzed using JMP IN® software. Descriptive statistics included means, standard deviations, and frequency. Subsequent data analysis involved Pearson X(2 )and one-way analysis of variance with comparison for all pairs that were significantly different using Tukey-Kramer honestly significant difference test. RESULTS: Outcomes of this study indicate the majority of participants (83%) used dieting for weight loss and believed they would be 2% to 6% greater than current weight if they did not diet; normal weight, overweight, and obese groups perceived attractive weight to be 94%, 85%, and 74%, respectively, of current weight; 80% of participants reported using physical activity to control weight, although only 19% exercised at a level that would promote weight loss; only two of 15 dieting behaviors assessed differed in terms of prevalence of use among groups, which were consciously eating less than you want (44% normal weight, 57% overweight, 81% obese) and using artificial sweeteners (31% normal weight and overweight, 5% obese); and the most prevalent explicit maladaptive weight loss behavior was smoking cigarettes (used by 9% of participants) and most unhealthy was skipping breakfast (32%). CONCLUSION: Collectively, results indicate female college students, regardless of weight status, would benefit from open discussions with health educators regarding healthy and effective dieting practices to achieve/maintain a healthy body weight. The results are subject to replication among high school, middle-aged, and older females

Energy expenditure and intake in children with sickle cell disease during acute illness

Background: Children with sickle cell disease have frequent bouts of pain and infection which may increase energy expenditure, decrease energy intake and lead to a subsequent energy deficit. Methods: Two groups of African-American children with sickle cell disease-SS genotype were enrolled in this study upon hospital admission for a sickle cell disease related illness: a younger (56 years, n = 14, 7M) and older group (6 years, n = 17, 8M). Body composition and dietary intake were assessed, and sleeping (younger) or resting energy expenditure (older) were measured by indirect calorimetry at admission and one month later at steady state. Results: Energy expenditure was not different between the two timepoints for younger children, but was slightly elevated at steady state (+50 kcal/d, P = 0.049) in the older group. After controlling for gender, changes in fat-free mass and dietary intake, the significance disappeared. Energy intake in both groups was significantly depressed at admission compared to follow-up (P50.01). Conclusions: These children and adolescents did not expend excess energy during their acute illness, however, an energy deficit was observed secondary to poor energy intake. Since 20% of patients with sickle cell disease have multiple hospitalizations per year, these results provide justification for the development and evaluation of nutrition care protocols to maintain adequate caloric intake during hospitalization and recover

Dieting practices weight perceptions and body composition: A comparison of normal weight overweight and obese college females

Background: Of concern to health educators is the suggestion that college females practice diet and health behaviors that contradict the 2005 dietary guidelines for Americans. In this regard there remain gaps in the research related to dieting among college females. Namely do normal weight individuals diet differently from those who are overweight or obese and are there dieting practices used by females that can be adapted to promote a healthy body weight? Since it is well recognized that females diet this study seeks to determine the dieting practices used among normal overweight and obese college females (do they diet differently) and identify dieting practices that could be pursued to help these females more appropriately achieve and aintain a healthy body weight. Methods: A total of 185 female college students aged 18 to 24 years participated in this study. Height weight waist and hip circumferences and skinfold thickness were measured to assess body composition. Surveys included a dieting practices uestionnaire and a 30-day physical activity recall. Participants were classified according to body mass index (BMI) as normal weight (n = 113) overweight (n = 35) or obese (n = 21). Data were analyzed using JMP IN® software. Descriptive statistics included means standard deviations and frequency. Subsequent data analysis involved Pearson X2 and one-way analysis of variance with comparison for all pairs that were significantly different using Tukey-Kramer honestly significant difference test. Results: Outcomes of this study indicate the majority of participants (83%) used dieting for weight loss and believed they would e 2% to 6% greater than current weight if they did not diet; normal weight overweight and obese groups perceived attractive weight to be 94% 85% and 74% respectively of current weight; 80% of participants reported using physical activity to control weight although only 19% exercised at a level that would promote weight loss; only two of 15 dieting behaviors assessed differed in terms of prevalence of use among groups which were consciously eating less than you want (44% normal weight 57% overweight 81% obese) and using artificial sweeteners (31% normal weight and overweight 5% obese); and the most prevalent explicit maladaptive weight loss behavior was smoking cigarettes (used by 9% of participants) and most unhealthy was skipping breakfast (32%). Conclusion: Collectively results indicate female college students regardless of weight status would benefit from open discussions with health educators regarding healthy and effective dieting practices to achieve/maintain a healthy body weight. he results are subject to replication among high school middle-aged and older females. Originally published Nutrition Journal Vol. 5 No. 11 Mar 200

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

Dieting practices, weight perceptions, and body composition: A comparison of normal weight, overweight, and obese college females

Background: Of concern to health educators is the suggestion that college females practice diet and health behaviors that contradict the 2005 dietary guidelines for Americans. In this regard, there remain gaps in the research related to dieting among college females. Namely, do normal weight individuals diet differently from those who are overweight or obese, and are there dieting practices used by females that can be adapted to promote a healthy body weight? Since it is well recognized that females diet, this study seeks to determine the dieting practices used among normal, overweight, and obese college females (do they diet differently) and identify dieting practices that could be pursued to help these females more appropriately achieve and\r\nmaintain a healthy body weight. Methods: A total of 185 female college students aged 18 to 24 years participated in this study. Height, weight, waist and hip circumferences, and skinfold thickness were measured to assess body composition. Surveys included a dieting practices\r\nquestionnaire and a 30-day physical activity recall. Participants were classified according to body mass index (BMI) as normal weight (n = 113), overweight (n = 35), or obese (n = 21). Data were analyzed using JMP IN® software. Descriptive statistics included means, standard deviations, and frequency. Subsequent data analysis involved Pearson X2 and one-way analysis of variance with comparison for all pairs that were significantly different using Tukey-Kramer honestly significant difference test. Results: Outcomes of this study indicate the majority of participants (83%) used dieting for weight loss and believed they would\r\nbe 2% to 6% greater than current weight if they did not diet\; normal weight, overweight, and obese groups perceived attractive weight to be 94%, 85%, and 74%, respectively, of current weight\; 80% of participants reported using physical activity to control weight, although only 19% exercised at a level that would promote weight loss\; only two of 15 dieting behaviors assessed differed in terms of prevalence of use among groups, which were consciously eating less than you want (44% normal weight, 57% overweight, 81% obese) and using artificial sweeteners (31% normal weight and overweight, 5% obese)\; and the most prevalent explicit maladaptive weight loss behavior was smoking cigarettes (used by 9% of participants) and most unhealthy was skipping breakfast (32%). Conclusion: Collectively, results indicate female college students, regardless of weight status, would benefit from open discussions with health educators regarding healthy and effective dieting practices to achieve/maintain a healthy body weight.\r\nThe results are subject to replication among high school, middle-aged, and older females. Originally published Nutrition Journal, Vol. 5, No. 11, Mar 200