Relationship Between Energy Drink Consumption and Nutrition Knowledge in Student-Athletes

Objective: To identify the relationships between energy drink consumption, nutrition knowledge, and socio-demographic characteristics in a convenience sample of student-athletes. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Online survey. Participants: A total of 194 student-athletes (112 female and 82 male). Main Outcome Measures: Socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge of human nutrition, energy drink consumption habits. Analysis: Chi-square tests of independence, independent t tests, and hierarchical regression analyses were applied. Results: Most student-athletes in the sample (85.5%) did not consume energy drinks, but those who did tended to be male (P = .004), had lower overall knowledge of nutrition (P = .02), and had a lower grade point average (P < .001) than did nonusers. Also, energy drink consumption was associated with the overall nutrition knowledge score when adjusted for socio-demographic characteristics, with nonusers having greater nutrition knowledge (P = .007) than users. Conclusions and Implications: Student-athletes tend to refrain from energy drink use but those who use it have a tendency to have lower nutrition knowledge than do nonusers. Therefore, nutrition education targeted toward student-athletes should encompass the consumption of energy drinks because limited evidence shows the benefits of collegiate athletes consuming energy drinks.