Ingestão de cafeína entre os adolescentes brasileiros

Abstract

In this work, an evaluation of caffeine intake by Brazilian adolescents was carried out, as well as the main foods containing caffeine that are consumed by them and its association with sleep. Data from the Study of Cardiovascular Risks in Adolescents were used. Initially, through the 24-hour food recall, all foods sources of caffeine or those that could contain it were listed, even in small quantities, and in this list the caffeine value for each 100 mg or ml of each food/preparation was placed, values obtained from a literature reference. Then, each teenager's caffeine intake was estimated in the STATA software. After this step, caffeine intake averages in mg/day and mg/kg/day were calculated, as well as caffeine intake frequencies according to sociodemographic data and biological and behavioral variables. We used the European Food Safety Authority reference that considers 3 mg/kg/day of caffeine consumption safe for adolescents. The variables bedtime and waking up were evaluated through the questionnaire. Sleep duration was obtained from the difference, in hours, between the beginning and the end of sleep, reported as the interval between sleep and awakening. Prevalence rates, confidence intervals and measures of central tendency were estimated. The association between demographic, anthropometric and lifestyle data with caffeine consumption was investigated. In all analyses, a significance level of 5% was considered. The sample of this study consisted of 71,553 adolescents, 50.2% male and 52.7% belonged to the age group of 12-14 years. The average caffeine intake by adolescents was 99.45 mg/day (95%CI: 91.43 – 107.47) and 1.88 mg/kg/day (95%CI: 1.71 – 2.04). Approximately 20% of adolescents have caffeine intake above the recommended 3 mg/kg/day. Among the adolescents with more chances of ingesting amounts of caffeine above the recommended (> 3 mg/kg/day) are boys (OR: 1.32; 95%CI: 1.23-1.41), those who live in the countryside (OR: 1.33; 95%CI: 1.10-1.61), those who study in a public school (OR: 2.71; 95%CI: 2.19-3.36), those who study in a localized school in the rural area (OR: 2.44; 95%CI: 1.98-3.00), in addition to those who eat breakfast (OR: 2.04; 95%CI: 1.76-2.38), they do not buy in the canteen (OR: 1.20; 95%CI: 1.03-1.41) and those who consume the lunch offered by the school (OR: 1.39; 95%CI: 1.21-1.59). Adolescents from the Northeast region had the highest chances (OR: 2.21; 95%CI: 1.84-2.67) of caffeine intake above the recommended (> 3 mg/kg/day), followed by adolescents from the Northeast region (OR: 1.96; 95%CI: 1.55-2.47). There was an association between caffeine intake and longer sleep duration (OR: 1.31; 95%CI: 1.17-1.46), probably the higher intake in the morning justifies the fact that caffeine intake does not interfere with sleep teenagers. The most consumed food, containing caffeine, among adolescents was coffee, followed by soda. Caffeine intake by Brazilian adolescents is associated with living in the countryside, studying at a public school or studying at a school in rural areas.