Introduction
Energy drinks refer to non-alcoholic beverages that contain caffeine, amino acids,
herbs, and vitamins. Although energy drinks are marketed to reduce fatigue and improve
physical/mental performance, frequent consumption of these beverages has been linked
to negative health consequences. The purpose of this study is to provide timely, national
estimates of the percentage of energy drink consumers in the U.S. and to analyze trends
in energy drink intake between 2003 and 2016.
Methods
A total of 9,911 adolescents (aged 12–19 years); 12,103 young adults (aged 20–39 years);
and 11,245 middle-aged adults (aged 40–59 years) were assessed using dietary data
from the 2003–2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. For each age
group (adolescents, young adults, and middle-aged adults), logistic regression was
used to estimate the proportion of energy drink consumers, and negative binomial regression
was used to estimate per capita energy drink consumption, adjusting for covariates.
Differences in total caffeine intake between energy drink consumers and non-consumers
were examined by pooling all survey years together and using negative binomial regression.
Analyses were conducted in 2018.
Results
From 2003 to 2016, the prevalence of energy drink consumption increased significantly
for adolescents (0.2% to 1.4%, p=0.028); young adults (0.5% to 5.5%, p<0.001); and middle-aged adults (0.0% to 1.2%, p=0.006). Per capita consumption of energy drinks increased significantly from 2003
to 2016 only for young adults (1.1 to 9.7 calories, p<0.001). Pooled across years, energy drink consumers had significantly higher total
caffeine intake compared with non-consumers for adolescents (227.0 mg vs 52.1 mg,
p<0.001); young adults (278.7 mg vs 135.3 mg, p<0.001); and middle-aged adults (348.8 mg vs 219.0 mg, p<0.001).
Conclusions
These findings indicate that consumption of energy drinks has grown substantially
and that these drinks are a major source of caffeine among those who consume them.
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: April 18, 2019
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
