In this research, it has surveyed attitudes and perception on caffeine, knowledge on caffeine, intake type and condition, intake frequency of caffeine, and intake behavior of food containing caffeine and perception on the need of education with 255 hi...
In this research, it has surveyed attitudes and perception on caffeine, knowledge on caffeine, intake type and condition, intake frequency of caffeine, and intake behavior of food containing caffeine and perception on the need of education with 255 high school students in Gyeongbuk area and analyzed the data statistically. Based on this the research provides information on caffeine of teenagers with 56 high school students in Gyeongbuk. To create proper behavior on intake and selection of food containing caffeine in the future, this research has developed educational material under the title of ‘what is caffeine’ and analyzed the effect of it after education.
When the recommended maximum daily intake of caffeine based on the average weight of research respondents, 60.5Kg was calculated average recommended maximum daily intake of caffeine was 151.25㎎ but surveyed average caffeine intake per day was 71.67㎎, showing students are taking less than the recommended maximum daily intake.
In terms of interests in food containing caffeine, the score was 2.76 out of 5 meaning students had small interests in food containing caffeine. Also, their perception on what kind of food contains caffeine was 2.98 still not so high. The knowledge on caffeine was low, rating 54.3%.
For educational contents on caffeine that respondents answered to be required, the most was ‘Side effects of caffeine.’ The next was ‘Quantity of caffeine in food’, ‘Caffeine addiction situation’, ‘Way of decreasing caffeine intake’, ‘Advantages of caffeine’, and ‘Others.’ The necessity of education on effect and side effect of caffeine in school or home was 3.02 points meaning that education on caffeine was perceived to be needed to some degree. Also, it was turned out that they prefer education by media (Newspaper, TV, etc) and professional lecturer. As a result of asking intake plan of food containing caffeine in the future ‘Will eat sometimes’ had the highest rate of 49.0%, followed by ‘Try to refrain’ of 28.2% and ‘Will try not to eat’ of 5.9%. This implies that teenagers are already habituated to the taste of their caffeine food preference.
After giving education on caffeine to the students, their satisfaction level was 4.45, meaning they were mostly satisfied with education and percentage of correct answer on caffeine knowledge was relatively high of 77.3%. In terms of willingness to take food containing caffeine in the future after getting education, 35.7% of students said ‘They will mostly not intake’ and the percentage of ‘Never intake’ was 7.1%. This number shows that most of students lessened intake of food containing caffeine or have willingness to stop after education. Regarding their future behavior on intake of food containing caffeine the score was 4.21, showing that students had high willingness to decrease or refrain from eating food containing caffeine after caffeine education.
Based on the above research result the following suggestions are made;
First of all, most of respondents perceived the necessity of education on caffeine but the reality was that no proper education on caffeine took place in school or home. Also, in terms of educational method on caffeine, respondents preferred education by media (Newspaper, TV, etc) and professional lecturer the most. Therefore, food related organizations or government such as Ministry of Food and Drug Safety should provide accurate information on caffeine to students via media and try to inculcate proper perception on caffeine to teenagers through systemic and continuous education by cooperating with schools. Furthermore, considering place of taking drinks containing caffeine for most of the respondents is ‘Home’ there should be proper guiding on caffeine intake at home as well. Lastly, when teenagers choose food containing caffeine they should be educated to check caffeine content and take amount that does not exceed the recommended maximum daily intake.