School pupils and university students surveyed for drinking beverages containing caffeine.

BACKGROUND Caffeine is a commonly found ingredient in many beverages. Its main dietary source is coffee, cola drinks and in recent years, energy drinks. OBJECTIVES To compare the consumption of drinks containing caffeine (coffee, colas and energy drinks) and the reasons and circumstances under which they were drunk by middle school (junior high school) pupils and university students. MATERIAL AND METHODS Surveyed subjects were 90 middle school pupils from Warsaw and Kutno together with 100 students attending the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW). A questionnaire, designed by the authors, was used to determine the amounts, frequency and the reasons or circumstances in which coffee, colas and energy drinks were consumed. Statistics used, consisted of the Mann-Whitney U and Chi-square (chi2) tests, with significance taken as alpha < or = 0.05. RESULTS Cola drinks were found to be the most popularly consumed beverages containing caffeine; 97% pupils and 93% students. Coffee was however drunk twice less by pupils compared to students, whilst similar amounts of energy drinks were consumed by both groups; respectively 48% and 53%. Gender differences were observed for the energy drinks with young men drinking the most. Coffee and energy drink consumption also rose with age by respectively 39% and 57%. The mean caffeine intake in pupils and students were respectively estimated to be 141 and 163 mg/day(d). The reasons why these beverages were drunk varied, from drinking coffee to keeping awake and drinking cola because of its good taste. Pupils also drank energy drinks due to its taste but students because of improved mental performance and in staying awake. CONCLUSIONS Drinking caffeine containing drinks by adolescents can be very variable and comes from many different sources. Thus, its intakes may be very high and so require monitoring, particularly for the youngest. Further observational studies are needed to assess the consumption of energy drinks in relation to physical activity.