Trends in energy drinks consumption by US adolescents by sex, age, and race/ethnicity, 2010-2013

Background

Monitoring the Future (MTF) is a population-based survey on health risk behaviors of adolescents in the United States. In 2010, a measure of daily energy drinks consumption was added to the MTF survey with ordinal responses ranging from none to seven or more per day. Energy drinks have become very popular among young people since their entry into the market in the late 1990s. Containing stimulants like caffeine, taurine, vitamins, guarana, and sugar or sweeteners, energy drinks are claimed to increase energy, improve athletic performance, and enhance concentration. Several studies have been conducted on adults’ energy drinks consumption, but there is limited information on prevalence and trend of energy drinks among adolescents in the U.S.  

Methods

A total of 21,103 8^th grade, 19,824 10^th grade, and 9,599 12^th grade students participated in this cross-sectional survey from 2010 to 2013. The students were selected via multistage random sampling, first at the geographic area, followed by school and class level. Annual prevalence estimates of energy drinks were obtained from the question, “About how many energy drinks do you drink PER DAY, on average?” In this study, we evaluated the overall prevalence and trend of energy drinks consumption in adolescents from year 2010 to 2013. Stratified analyses by sex, age and race/ethnicity were performed to identify any patterns in each group. All analyses were weighted to account for the complex sampling scheme.

Results

Across all four years, the 8^th grade students reported the highest percentage of energy drinks consumption, followed by the 12^th and the 10^th grade students. An overall decreasing trend of energy drinks consumption was observed in the 10^th and 12^th grades from 2010 to 2013 whereas the prevalence for the 8^th grade remained stable from 2010 to 2012 with a slight decrease in 2013. Compared to girls, the prevalence was higher among boys in all grades and years. Overall, African American students reported the lowest percentage of consumption while Hispanic students reported the highest. In addition a clear decreasing pattern was observed in the 8^th and 10^th grade African American students from 2010 to 2013.   

Conclusion

Findings indicate that prevalence of energy drink consumption was highest in the 8^th grade, Hispanic students. The overall decreasing trend is promising, but intervention strategies targeting younger students, especially Hispanics, are needed.