Abstract:
Introduction: The global Energy Drink (ED) market is continuously expanding, and the ED market is more
often oriented toward youth and young adults. This has raised concerns among healthcare professionals that
young adults who consume ED may harm their health. Currently, there is a correlated trend for subsequent
substance use with this ED consumption, but it has not been well studied.
Objective: To assess the prevalence of ED consumption, associations, awareness of health-related risks,
and its potential association with the use of substances among residential undergraduates at the University
of Colombo.
Methods: This study was a descriptive cross-sectional and 361 undergraduates who reside in university
hostels were enrolled. An online self-developed, pre-validated questionnaire was distributed to gather
information on socio-demographic data, frequency of ED consumption, reasons, and associations behind
the consumption, awareness of the negative effects, correlation between ED consumption and subsequent
substance use. Data were analyzed to obtain percentages, frequencies and relationships.
Results: 38.8% of participants were males while majority (52.9%) were aged between 23 -25 years. The
prevalence of ED consumption was 31% and most were infrequent consumers (47.3%) and the primary
reason for consumption was to enjoy the taste. 89.8% of the participants had poor awareness regarding
health-related effects. Level of awareness, age, gender, monthly income of the family, academic year, parttime jobs, and sexual activity status (p<0.05) were positively associated with ED consumption. ED
consumption was statically significant (p<0.05) with Alcohol, Cigarettes, Cannabis, Marijuana, and
Tobacco use.
Conclusions: This study showed a comparatively high incidence of ED intake among undergraduate
hostellers of the university. The majority of the hostellers had poor awareness regarding health-related risks
linked with ED consumption. The findings of this study demonstrate that consuming ED is a potential risk
factor for substance abuse and highlight the necessity of educating young adults about the harmful effects
of ED consumption
