Although caffeine is sometimes associated with beneficial effects in adults, the substance may be dangerous if intake is too high. This concern is particularly relevant in regards to children and adolescents, as consumption of energy drinks may be particularly high in such populations. For this reason, the current study examined data from the Cornish Academies Project to determine whether caffeine intake in secondary school children was related to responses to a single-item measure of general health. Two cross-sections of data were available: questionnaires were completed by 2030 at baseline, by 2307 at 6-month follow-up, and by 1660 at both time-points. Relationships were, therefore, explored both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. High caffeine consumption (i.e., 1000 mg/week) was associated with low general health in both cross-sections of data, and analyses of individual caffeine sources suggested that the effects related specifically to cola and energy drinks. However, after controlling for additional aspects of diet, demography, and lifestyle, total weekly intake only remained significantly associated with general health at the latter time-point. Further to this, null findings from cross-lag and change-score analyses suggest that caffeine and general health were unlikely to be causally linked in this sample. However, due to methodological limitations, such as the two cross-sections of data being collected only 6 months apart, it is suggested that further longitudinal and intervention studies are required in order for firm conclusions to be drawn.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 5. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 20 August 2022.
All research outputs
#7,444,082
of 26,589,077 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Nutrition
#2,187
of 7,700 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#119,244
of 423,367 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Nutrition
#8
of 14 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 26,589,077 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 71st percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 7,700 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 16.7. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 71% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 423,367 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 71% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 14 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 42nd percentile – i.e., 42% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
