Energy Drinks Linked to Risk-taking Behaviors Among College Students

Over the last decade, energy drinks - such as Red Bull, Monster and Rockstar- have become nearly ubiquitous on college campuses. The global market for these types of drinks currently exceeds $3 billion a year and new products are introduced annually.

Although few researchers have examined energy drink consumption, a researcher at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) has been investigating links between energy drinks and public health concerns like substance abuse and risky behaviors.

Two new research reports by RIA Research Scientist Kathleen E. Miller, Ph.D., examine the relationships between energy drink consumption and risk-taking in college students as well as "toxic jock identity" - characterized by hyper-masculinity and risk-taking behaviors among college-age athletes.

Miller's research validates and expands upon existing concerns about energy drink consumption: "The principal target demographic for energy drinks is young adults ages 18-25, but they're nearly as common among younger teens," she explains. "This is a concern because energy drinks typically contain three times the caffeine of a soft drink, and in some cases, up to 10 times as much. They also include ingredients with potential interactions such as taurine and other amino acids, massive doses of vitamins, and plant and herbal extracts."

Miller is a sociologist and an adjunct research assistant professor in the Department of Sociology in UB's College of Arts and Sciences. The research was funded by a $471,000 grant by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

In the first set of results published online in June in the Journal of Adolescent Health, Miller identified links between energy drink consumption, risky substance use and sexual risk-taking.

Frequent energy drink consumers (six or more days a month), according to Miller's findings, were approximately three times as likely than less-frequent energy drink consumers or non-consumers to have smoked cigarettes, abused prescription drugs and been in a serious physical fight in the year prior to the survey.

They reported drinking alcohol,having alcohol-related problems and using marijuana about twice as often as non-consumers. They were also more likely to engage in other forms of risk-taking, including unsafe sex, not using a seatbelt, participating in an extreme sport and doing something dangerous on a dare. The associations with smoking, drinking, alcohol problems and illicit prescription use were found for white but not African-American students.

A total of 795 Western New York male and female undergraduate students participated in the study and 39 percent reported consuming at least one energy drink in the previous month. There was significantly higher consumption by men (46 percent) than by women (31 percent) and higher consumption by whites (40 percent) than by blacks (25 percent).