Abstract
Introduction: Energy drinks are widespread among university students and its consumption amongst them is of particular apprehension since this youthful group of people, busy in academic search is a best objective for the sponsors of energy drinks, with potentials to improve energy, encourage wakefulness, escalation of alertness and increase mental and physical performance, in addition students report using energy drinks as a way to help them stay awake, sharpen their examination-taking skills, or get through homework as well as drinking them during high energy activities. Material and method: A cross-sectional survey carried out from March 2020 to June 2020 among students of Albaha University. The total sample sizes composed of 252 males and 152 females from different faculties. A self-administrated questionnaire was designed to obtain data on student demographics, energy drink ingestion patterns, linked adverse effects, and awareness of the harmful properties of energy drinks. Data were analyzed using SPSS program version 24 (SPSS, Inc, Chicago, IL, USA). Results: A total of 450 questionnaires were administered and 404 questionnaires were completed by the participant. Two thirds of respondents 252(62.4%) were males' with mean age of 20.6 years), and females 152(37.6%) with mean age of 20.8 years. Fifty two percent of them (211; 52.4%) reported current use of energy drinks, with males (56.3%) showed more usage than females (42.4%); (p = 0.001), and those who were more elderly were least likely to use EDs (p =.001). Drives let the respondent to consume EDs, showed that students use energy drinks for different reasons among these, 55.4% of the respondents said that enhancing academic performance (Studying for exams) was the main purpose for using energy drinks, followed by "to keep awake and improved alertness and attention as for driving" (17%) and "Increased physical activity" (13%), whereas only 11.7% (n = 47) did not show any reason for their using energy drinks. The effects on health that the respondent feel after consumption of energy drinks, most students surveyed, 58.2% tell that energy snacks they used were harmless, and (66.7%) agreed that energy drinks were a good source of energy and increased their physical activity, 44.7% felt that the drinks Improved alertness and attention and increase their ability to stay awake while 22.6% show unpleasant effects. Conclusion: Low consumption rate of energy drinks among Albaha University students, with unsatisfactory knowledge about health risk of energy drinks. There is a necessity to educate students about the prospective dangers of EDs and more research and associated improved public awareness is needed about energy drinks and understanding of their effects.