Consumption and Purchasing Behavior of Beverages Among College Students in Urban Areas

Abstract

To investigate the consumption and the purchasing behavior of beverages according to gender and intake level among students, a total of 370 urban college students in Cheongju and Gwangju were surveyed with respect to general characteristics, dietary habit, purchasing behavior, and intake level of beverages. The main timing and site of purchasing beverages were for quenching the thirst or for resting, and convenience stores, respectively, and the most important reason was ‘taste’ when choosing beverages. Among the subjects, 44.6% checked the nutrition label of beverages when purchasing, and 52.7 and 94.1% responded ‘no’ with respect to their experiences in educational programs on nutrition labeling and reducing sugar intake, respectively. These results show significant differences between gender, but not among different levels of drinking groups. A 3.5 L of average drink level and 3.7 beverage types weekly with the most consumption of sweetened carbonated soda, unsweetened Americano coffee, milk, ion supply drinks, and tea were revealed. The highest drinking level group, comprising a habitual drinker with 6.6 L weekly of an average level, showed 9.4 and 3.2 times higher in drinking level and the type of beverages, respectively (p0.001) than the lowest level drinking group. Based on these findings, the consumption of beverages becomes habitual and increases in level among college students, which would be considered with respect to health problems from excessive intake of sugar and caffeine. Thus, educational and promotional support for the intake level of beverages in moderation are needed.