Examination of Attitudes of Sports Science Faculty Students about Energy Drinks, Sports Drinks and Ergogenic Substances

Abstract

Consumption of beverages is not considered adequate by athletes and coaches. The preliminary knowledge of those who are going to study in Sports Sciences Faculties will be very important. All participants were 1st year students. In the study, participants were asked to assess their socio-demographic characteristics and health behaviors, sport habbits, to determine energy drinks (ED), sports drinks (SD) and ergogenic substances (ES) patterns and frequency and consumption purposes, relationship between consumption status. Use a data collection form was prepared to determine the presence or absence of relevant proposals. Total of 101 participants (55 males, 19.2±1.5; 46 females, 19.0±1.2 years of age), participated in the survey to examine the attitudes of ED, SD and ES.  The data were evaluated in the SPSS 21.0. The categorical variablesin the questionnaire were reported as number, percentage, mean and standard deviation. A "chi-square test" and One way ANOVA tests was used. Statistical significance level was accepted as p <0,05. 52.5% of the students stated that energy drinks were beneficial, 57.4% said sports drinks were beneficial and 61.4% of the participants said that they did not have an idea about "ergogenic substances". The prevalence of ED usage was 40.0% for males and 19.5% for females (p: 0.027). While 45.4% of the males are using the SDs, this rate was found to be 13.0% in females (p<0.001). Regarding the use of ED, SD and ES, the young population and especially the sports educators in the future should be informed for the public health. As a result of this study, we would like to draw attention to the importance of education for pre-university youth. In recent years, it is important to make new educational arrangements for the developing and changing consumption habits of young people.

Attitudes of Polish adolescents towards energy drinks. Part 1. Development, validation and reliability testing of a scale to identify attitudes towards energy drinks

“…Another example is the research in which opinions and behaviurs of Turkish students regarding consumption of EDs, sports drinks and ergogenic substances were assessed, although the title of the article suggested identification of attitudes [39]. A similar mistake concerns the study in which only adolescents' behaviours regarding ED consumption and the level of knowledge about EDs were determined, even though the study aimed to explore behaviours, knowledge and attitudes towards EDs [40].…”