This study examined the intake status of energy drinks and related factors among university students in Yeungnam region, Korea. A total of 456 students participated in the study by a self-administered questionnaire. About 26% of the respondents never took energy drinks, whereas about 30% took them previously, but do not take them now. Almost 45% answered that they have taken them up to now. The reasons for first intake of energy drinks were ‘necessity for myself’ followed by ‘curiosity’, ‘recommendation of friends’, and ‘seeing advertisement’, and Chi-square test showed that there was a significant difference according to dwelling status. About half of the respondents took them since high school, and the main reason for energy drink intake was ‘to stay awake’. About 45% of the respondents indicated that they increased study hours after taking energy drinks, whereas almost 40% answered that they had little effect on them. Over half of the respondents experienced side effects after energy drink intake. About one-fifth of the respondents mixed the energy drinks with alcoholic beverages to make them taste better. In addition, in the result for the multinomial logistic regression analysis, gender, grade, dwelling status, smoking status, alcohol drinking status, perception of effect of energy drinks on health, and perception of benefit level of caffeine were the predictors for the respondents who never took energy drinks in comparison with the respondents who have taken them up to now. On the other hand, for the respondents who took them previously but do not take them now compared with those of having taken them up to now, the predictors were dwelling status and smoking status. These results imply that dietary education from childhood regarding knowledge and side effects of energy drinks should be offered.