Abstract
Caffeine is generally consumed all over the world and legitimately recognized as a psychoactive ingredient in many beverages and considered a drug. The penalty area of this research was to assess how much college students are dependent on caffeine drinks and to identify knowledge and attitude of students toward the effects of caffeinated beverages on their health. Also, our research aimed to measure the effects of caffeinated beverages on some medical parameters before and after 2 hours of drinking. An authorized survey was distributed haphazardly to 221 students aged between 17 and 22 years. The survey was performed using a pre-validated 15 items questionnaire. Some medical parameters as body mass index, glucose level, and blood pressure were measured. Out of 217 students in the study, the majority of them (98.2%) drank caffeinated beverages in the form of coffee drinks with 23.96%, tea drinks by 11.1%, energy drinks (14.7%), carbonated drinks (34.6%) and 15.7 % of them drinking all caffeinated beverages. Furthermore, 76.0% of them think caffeine addiction is a health issue. Additionally, caffeinated beverages have antagonistic physiological effects on the level of blood glucose and blood pressure after two hours of consumption (P<0.001). Finally, the highest percent of the overweight and obese students were shown in carbonated drinks consumption group then in energy drinks consumption. Consumption of caffeine-containing drinks in higher doses has undesirable effects on health, so self-control and surveillance are necessary for daily intake.