An-Najah Staff

This study describes the patterns of energy drinks consumption and associated factors among a University students in Palestine. A cross-sectional study was conducted at An-Najah National University in Nablus, West Bank-Palestine. The study included 279 students of three colleges: Medicine, Physical Education, and Engineering. Data were collected using a 25-item selfadministered questionnaire. All data analysis were performed using SPSS software version 17. Energy-drink consumption was significantly higher among male students, as 80.5% of energy-drink users involved in this study were males. It was higher among those with higher monthly expenditure. More than half (61.5% ) of smokers included in this study have ever tried using energy drinks. The most common cause for using energy drinks among users was to stay awake at night (68.6%), while most of those who never tried energy drinks in their lives didn’t do so because they thought energy drinks are unhealthy. About two thirds (64.4%) of the participants didn’t know the main constituents of energy drinks and about half (53.6%) stated that they knew that there might be side effects associated with the use of energy drinks. More than half of the current users (56.8%) consumed less than 1 bottle/day. The most common side effect faced by users was palpitations, encountered by 29.5% of current users. Energy-drink usage is common among university students in Palestine. Campaigns should be encouraged in order to spread awareness about the contents and possible side effects of energy drinks.