Thakre Tushar P, Deoras Ketan, Griffin Catherine, Vemana Aarthi, Podmore Petra, Krishna Jyoti
Lata Medical Research Foundation, Nagpur, India.
Virginia Commonwealth University Department of Psychiatry, Richmond, VA.
J Clin Sleep Med. 2015 Jul 15;11(7):741-6. doi: 10.5664/jcsm.4848.
Caffeine, a commonly consumed psychoactive substance, can have significant effects on sleep. Caffeine intake among children is increasing, mainly in the form of sodas. However, adolescent caffeine consumers may lack knowledge about the caffeine content in common beverages. If true, this very fact may hamper the assessment of the effects of caffeine consumption on sleep in children if such assessments are a priori dependent on responders being able to reliably distinguish between caffeinated and noncaffeinated beverages. This preliminary study investigated adolescents' caffeine knowledge and intake at a Cleveland-area public middle school.
Seventh- and eighth-grade students were surveyed using: (1) the Caffeine Literacy and Sleep Study (CLASS), a 15-question pilot instrument designed to assess caffeine knowledge and intake by type, quantity and timing, as well as sleep habits; and (2) the Cleveland Adolescent Sleepiness Questionnaire (CASQ), a validated survey measuring excessive daytime sleepiness in adolescents. These questionnaires were distributed and collected during a specified class period.
Of the 635 seventh- and eighth-grade students who attended school on the day of the study, 555 (87%) participated. Lack of knowledge about caffeine content of particular drinks was noted in seventh and eighth graders of both sexes with nearly 29% unaware that their favorite drinks contain caffeine and more than 50% unable to correctly identify the drinks with the most caffeine. A low percentage of students correctly identified light-colored sodas lacking caffeine: 7-Up (24.1%), Sierra Mist (38.9%), ginger ale (39.8%), Sprite (39.8%), and Fresca (53.7%). The percentages of students correctly identifying caffeinated light-colored beverages were: Arizona Green Tea (43.5%), Mello Yellow (50.9%), and A&W cream soda (67.6%). However, Mountain Dew was correctly identified by most (93.5%) as caffeinated.
Students were not consistently able to identify caffeine content or lack thereof in some common beverages. The results of this pilot study show that caffeine literacy in adolescents warrants further investigation and educational intervention.
咖啡因是一种常见的精神活性物质，对睡眠会产生显著影响。儿童的咖啡因摄入量在增加，主要以汽水的形式。然而，青少年咖啡因消费者可能对常见饮料中的咖啡因含量缺乏了解。如果真是这样，那么这一事实可能会妨碍对咖啡因摄入对儿童睡眠影响的评估，前提是此类评估事先依赖于受访者能够可靠地区分含咖啡因和不含咖啡因的饮料。这项初步研究调查了克利夫兰地区一所公立中学青少年的咖啡因知识和摄入量。
对七年级和八年级学生进行了调查，采用：（1）咖啡因知识与睡眠研究（CLASS），这是一份有15个问题的试点问卷，旨在按类型、数量和时间评估咖啡因知识和摄入量以及睡眠习惯；（2）克利夫兰青少年嗜睡问卷（CASQ），这是一份经过验证的调查，用于测量青少年白天过度嗜睡情况。这些问卷在特定的上课时间发放并收集。
在研究当天上学的635名七年级和八年级学生中，有555名（87%）参与。七年级和八年级的男女学生都存在对特定饮料咖啡因含量缺乏了解的情况，近29%的学生不知道他们最喜欢的饮料含有咖啡因，超过50%的学生无法正确识别咖啡因含量最高的饮料。正确识别不含咖啡因的浅色汽水的学生比例较低：七喜（24.1%）、激浪（38.9%）、姜汁汽水（39.8%）、雪碧（39.8%）和福瑞卡（53.7%）。正确识别含咖啡因的浅色饮料的学生比例分别为：亚利桑那绿茶（43.5%）、美年达（50.9%）和A&W奶油苏打汽水（67.6%）。然而，大多数学生（93.5%）能正确识别激浪含有咖啡因。
学生们并非总能识别某些常见饮料中是否含有咖啡因。这项试点研究的结果表明，青少年的咖啡因知识状况值得进一步调查和进行教育干预。
