Energy Drinks And Adolescents: A Research Paper

Energy drinks are beverages that have a stimulating effect on the central nervous system and is mainly designed to give the consumer increased energy (Lucas, 2013). Many Manufacturers of energy drinks claim and promote that their drinks have beneficial effects on cognitive and mental performance. Currently, there is little evidence to support their claims that in fact energy drinks do enhance the cognitive performance of adolescents. (Pascal Wilhelm P1, 2013)

Marketing of energy drinks targeted at young people has been very effective. Besides from multivitamins, energy drinks are the most popular dietary supplement consumed by American young adults and teens. (National institutes of health, 2014) Males amid the ages of 18 and 34 years consume

(Pascal Wilhelm P1, 2013) The aim of this study was to investigate, through a series of tests, if the manufacturers of energy drinks are justified in promoting that their drinks improve the cognitive performance of adolescents. In a quasi-experimental design a number of adolescents (aged 15-18) were divided into 3 groups: an experimental group whose participants drank a currently available energy drink called Megaforce ,a control group, each of whose participants drank water beforehand and a placebo group whose participants drank a glass of sugar-free lemonade. (Pascal Wilhelm P1, 2013) Paper and pencil tests were administered to the participants of each of the 3 groups in order to measure learning ability, attention and concentration, verbal and numerical reasoning, memory, numerical aptitude and vocabulary. The results of the experiment showed that there were no significant differences between the groups that could solely be credited to the effect of the energy drink. The study concluded that given the many warnings about the potential health-risks of energy drinks and the fact that no evidence was found for beneficial effects of energy drinks on the cognitive performance of adolescents, it was also concluded that adolescents should avoid using energy drinks to enhance their mental performance. (Pascal Wilhelm P1,

According to the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment the top 5 threats to academic performance among university students are anxiety, sleep disturbances, stress and depression. Energy drink consumption signifies developing health risk behaviour amongst students. The study that was conducted and published in the Journal investigated the relationships concerning energy drink consumption, academic performance and perceived stress amongst college students. (Michele L. Pettit, 2011) There were a total of 136 Participants of undergraduates who attend at large southern plains university. The questions the study was researching were the following: (a) Is there a relationship that exists between energy drink consumption and perceived stress amongst college students? and (b) is there a relationship that exists between academic performance and energy drink consumption amongst college students? (Michele L. Pettit, 2011) This study’s data was collected through a survey that was designed to discover information regarding perceived stress, energy drink consumption, demographics and academic performance. The study came to the conclusion that the relationship between participants’ academic performance and number of energy drinks consumed was inversely