~~Robertson County faces health challenges.  Thirty –two percent of the adults in the county are obese (Kentucky County Healthcare Profiles, 2012).  53% of the adults in the county have been told that they have high blood pressure or hypertension by a health care professional, and 14% have been diagnosed with diabetes. Although healthy people can tolerate caffeine in moderation, heavy caffeine consumption, such as drinking energy drinks, has been associated with serious consequences.  For most children, adolescents and young adults, safe levels of consumption have not been established. Children may be at higher risk for adverse events from energy drinks.

Most caffeine intake among youth comes from soda; however, energy drinks are becoming increasingly popular.  According to self-report surveys, energy drinks are consumed on an occasional basis by 30% to 50% of adolescents and young adults. (Pediatrics, March 2011) The Agent in Robertson County saw a need to make young people aware of the sugar and other ingredients in their energy drinks.  A meeting was arranged with high and middle school groups to discuss the ingredients of various energy drinks they consumed, as well as to provide information regarding excessive consumption of these drinks.

Students were divided into groups and asked to find the nutrition charts on empty cans of energy drinks. After locating the grams of sugar contained in each drink, they were taught how to convert the grams into teaspoons, then measure the amount of sugar contained in each drink into separate containers.  Some of the students chose to measure the amount of total sugar they would consume if they drank several energy drinks each day.  Other ingredients in energy drinks, such as fructose, caffeine, taurine and herbal fractions, were discussed along with their side effects. Those side effects discussed included weight gain, high blood pressure, caffeine dependency, nervousness and sleep disturbances.

Of the 74 students included in this activity, 56% said the information they had received would influence them the next time they thought about purchasing an energy drink, 36% were unsure whether the information would influence their next purchase, and 8% said it would have no influence and they would continue to consume energy drinks as they had in the past.