A survey to assess the extent of stimulant drink consumption by young people will begin in the coming weeks.
Subjects as young as 10 years will be asked how often they take stimulant drinks, how much they drink and what other drinks, including alcohol, they mix with them.
The Stimulant Drinks Committee, which was established by the Food Safety Promotion Board (FSPB), will conduct the survey. It met yesterday to finalise plans.
Dr Geraldine Quinn, technical executive of the FSPB, said the committee had yet to decide whether the survey would be conducted on the streets or involve postal, phone or door-to-door interviews.
"We can target young people in schools easily enough, but the 18- to 24year-old category are either in college or they may be only home in the evenings," she said.
The committee is also considering including children in the survey because studies in Australia and Germany have shown 10-year-olds have taken stimulant drinks, Dr Quinn said.
As the FSPB covers both the Republic and Northern Ireland, the survey will be conducted in both jurisdictions.
Sales figures showed consumption of stimulant drinks in Northern Ireland was higher than in the Republic, Dr Quinn said.
The survey should be complete before the summer and would form part of a broader report to be submitted to the Government before the end of the year, she added.
An assessment of the marketing and advertising of stimulant drinks, and of young people's attitudes to advertising of the drinks, will be included in the report.
The Stimulant Drink Committee was set up after the death of 18-year-old Mr Ross Cooney, who drank up to three cans of Red Bull, a caffeine-enriched stimulant, before a basketball tournament.
The jury at the inquest last November recommended research into the effects of stimulant drinks, which include Red Bull, American Bull and Spiked Silver.