They get worse grades, miss class more and repeat more. This is what happens to adolescents between 14 and 18 years old who drink energy drinks compared to those who do not consume them. In addition, they tend to drink more alcohol and consume substances such as tobacco, cannabis, ecstasy or cocaine. This is reported by the Survey on Alcohol and Drugs in Secondary Education in Spain (ESTUDES) collected by the Spanish Observatory on Drugs and Addictions (OEDA), focused on this type of drink that is so fashionable among young people and of which doctors and nutritionists They have been warning for some time that they are harmful, especially for adolescents, because they have important consequences at the brain and metabolic level.
Another recent PNSD study carried out on children aged 12 and 13 had previously revealed another fact: up to 37.7% of these children have taken Red Bull, Burn, Monster, Coca-Cola Energy or others in the last month, 10 .2% mixed with alcohol.
And, as the OEDA warns, young people are “one of the population groups most exposed” to energy drinks. Several communities and the Ministry of Health itself, with the approval of numerous scientific societies, have put these drinks in their sights and want to regulate them for minors.
The ESTUDES survey has been carried out biannually for three decades. 10 years ago, in 2014, it was decided to introduce a module on energy drinks. And in the latest installment of this study, it was found that practically half (47.7%) of students aged 14 to 18 have taken them in the last month, 19.5% mixed with alcohol.
According to the survey, young people between 14 and 18 years old who drink energy drinks get worse grades, miss more classes and repeat more courses than adolescents who do not consume them. In data, about 30% of students who have drunk an energy drink have repeated a year. On the other hand, activities such as reading, having a hobby or playing an instrument are, the study says, a “protective factor” against lower consumption.
By sex, they are the ones who consume them the most. 54.4% of the adolescents who have taken them in the last month were boys, compared to 40.7% of girls. It is also men who mix more.
72.5% of adolescents consume energy drinks with alcohol, 32.3% with tobacco, 24.3% with cannabis, 10.5% with sedative hypnotics and 1.6% with ecstasy or cocaine.
The study warns that these drinks are advertised as refreshing drinks created to stimulate the metabolism and warns that they usually contain caffeine. But these drinks have “important” consequences at the brain and metabolic level and among their adverse effects are the stimulation of the central nervous and cardiovascular systems, in addition to their relationship with obesity. And its regular consumption has been associated with hypertension and caffeine overdose and some of its most common side effects are palpitations, insomnia, nausea or vomiting.
