Consumption of energy drinks among adolescents in Norway: a cross-sectional study

Naim Degirmenci,Tor Arne Strand,Mads Nikolaj Holten-Andersen,Arild Vaktskjold,Ingrid Nesdal Fossum

doi:10.1186/s12889-018-6236-5

Abstract

BackgroundEnergy drink (ED) consumption is increasing all over the world. We sought to describe the consumption of EDs among adolescents in Norway, and to explore the determinants of daily and high consumption.MethodsPopulation-based cross-sectional data were collected from a sample of 31,091 secondary school students in grade 8–13 aged 12–19 years. School grade, residency, socioeconomic status (SES), physical activity and leisure screen time were included in multiple regression analyses, in order to investigate their associations with daily and high (≥four times weekly) ED consumption.Results52.3% of the respondents were ED consumers and 3.5% were high consumers. Boys consumed twice as much ED as girls (boys: 36.3 ml/day, girls: 18.5 ml/day, geometric means), and the proportion of male high consumers was 3.7-times higher than that of females. The adjusted odd ratio (OR) of upper secondary school (grades 11–13, ages 15–19) students being high ED consumers were higher than for lower secondary school (grades 8–10, ages 12–15) students (OR 1.1(confidence interval (CI):1.0–1.3)), as well as higher for rural than urban residents (OR 1.3 (CI: 1.1–1.5)). Gradients for the increased ORs of being a high ED consumer were found for decreased SES, decreased frequency of physical activity and increased daily leisure screen time.ConclusionsMore than half of the respondents reported that they were ED consumers. Daily and high consumption were independently associated with male gender, physical inactivity, high leisure screen time, low socioeconomic status and rural residency.

Highlights

Energy drink (ED) consumption is increasing all over the world
The aim of the study was to survey the extent of ED consumption among adolescents in Norway, as well as to assess the impact of sociodemographic and lifestyle factors that may be associated with the risk of high consumption
ED consumption Table 2 shows details concerning the respondents’ self-reported ED consumption. It reveals that 52.3% of them reported that they were ED consumers (39.3% infrequent consumers, 9.5% frequent consumers and 3.5% high consumers)

Summary

Introduction

Energy drink (ED) consumption is increasing all over the world. We sought to describe the consumption of EDs among adolescents in Norway, and to explore the determinants of daily and high consumption. Over the past few years, there has been a rapid increase in the consumption of energy drinks (ED) globally, with children and adolescents being the major consumers [1,2,3]. Studies have shown that among these groups, ED consumption has been associated with health complaints and sleep problems [1, 9,10,11,12,13], as well as with problems with behaviour regulation, metacognition, school performance [14,15,16], executive functions [12] and the risk of being overweight or obese [17]. ED consumption has been associated with emotional difficulties, lower subjective well-being and symptoms of depression and anxiety [12, 18]; it has even been associated with increased odds of suicide attempts among 13–18 year olds, adjusted for possible confounding factors including stress, sleep and school performance [15]

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