Energy drinks have become a popular beverage worldwide. This review was carried out to have an overview among adolescents and emerging adults in the Gulf Co-operation Council states about energy drinks consumption rates and other related issues such as starting age and patterns of energy drink consumption. The Medline and Embase databases were searched separately using different terms such as energy drinks, energy beverages, and caffeinated drinks. Data related to the rates of energy drinks use were entered in STATA for statistical analysis. Then, these data were used to conduct meta-analysis to estimate the rate of energy drink consumption. Overall, meta-analysis results showed that the estimated rates of energy drinks consumption is 46.9% (95% CIs, 33.2 -66.1; nine studies) with I-square 3.7%. Findings indicated that individuals start to consume energy drinks at approximately 16 years old, and males were found to consume energy drinks more frequently than females. Results from this review carry several recommendations for policy and enforcement, public education and research that can help policy and decision makers to achieve the goal of safer use of energy drinks.
Keywords: Gulf Cooperation Council countries; consumption; energy beverages; energy drinks.