Regular use of alcohol and coffee may be harmful to human health. Previous studies showed that students who consumed alcohol may consume coffee as well. We conducted a cross-sectional study with 212 final–year undergraduate students of Hanoi Medical University to describe their knowledge and practice in alcohol and coffee use The results show that over 70% of students had knowledge of alcohol and coffee. Approximately 87% and 41% of students thought that alcohol and coffee are both beneficial and harmful to health, respectively. Regarding the actual practice in the use of alcohol and coffee, 93.4% of students had ever drunk alcohol; while 84.9% of those had ever drunk coffee. The frequency of alcohol and coffee use is mostly less than 4 days per month. We found a high percentage of students had knowledge of alcohol and coffee, and they had been using alcohol and/or coffee, however, they occasionally used those drinks with a monthly frequency. It is necessary to strengthen communication activities about alcohol use and its health effects, especially recommending that alcohol use should be limited to less than 2 units/day in men, below 1 unit/day in women, and no more than 5 days/week [1].
knowledge, practice, alcohol, coffee
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