CAFFEINATED PRODUCTS CONSUMPTION AND THEIR HEALTH AND BEHAVIOR ALERTS AMONG MEDICAL STUDENTS AT BENGHAZI UNIVERSITY

Introduction: Caffeine is the most widely consumed psychoactive substance in the world and not only found in coffee, but also present in some products includes tea, energy drinks, caffeine containing medicine and soft drink. The aim of conducting the research is to study most popular caffeinated product consumption and its health and behavior alerts among medical students. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted from beginning of January to the end of March 2020 on branches of medical faculties involved 545 students. Purposive sampling was used to enroll students for this study and they were asked to respond to the validated questionnaires. A questionnaire related to the caffeinated products consumption and related health problems. The analysis included frequency, percentages, mean, standard deviation, unpaired T-test and ANOVA. Result and discussion : The data collected on 545 students found that medical student consumed caffeine in the form of chocolate 87%, coffee 86%, Tea 74.9% soft beverages 67.2% , and Arabic coffee 59.1% ( P= 0.000). Most of the medical student have had some reasons for drinking caffeinated products and these reasons shown significant differences (P< 0.05) and these reasons include 76.5% increase during exam time, about 65% , to a raise level of attention and focus at the lecture and 62% for improve mood .However, students did not aware and expect the negative effect towards caffeine consumption. Based on gender, there was different on the amounts of daily caffeine intake by which male more than female (P< 0.05). Furthermore caffeinated products consumption significant associated with increased body weight (P< 0.05) There also found significant differences of caffeinated products intake among male and female (P< 0.05) by which male more frequent consume. Conclusions: Drinking caffeine containing products by the students were variable from different sources. Although, students were shown consumed caffeine at modest levels. In spite , monitoring is necessary for the daily intake and there is need for educational programs about the health effects related to high consumption of caffeinated products. KEYWORDS: malnutrition, caffeinated, BMI, Behaviors.