Caffeine may be the first thing on your mind when you wake up. Whether you down a cup of java or reach for a Coca Cola, many count on the first beverage of the day to power through morning brain fog. Energy drinks and those energy shots at your local convenience store can easily become a substitute for sleep. Caffeine can impact people in different ways. You may be able to have a cup of coffee right before bed and sleep well while your spouse can’t have coffee after 3pm or risk insomnia.
Beyond the buzz, caffeine can become a serious health hazard for some with what you may call ‘pre- existing conditions. In this blog post, we’ll address caffeine as the drug that it is. We will unpack the safety for adults vs teens.
For healthy adults, the FDA has cited 400 milligrams a day—that’s about four or five cups of coffee—as an amount not generally associated with dangerous, negative effects.. Pregnant women are advised to limit to 200 mg of caffeine per day.
For young children there is no safe amount…
“There is no known safe amount of caffeine for anyone age 11 and younger,” according to the FDA Until a safe amount is determined, if it’s impossible to avoid, people age 12 to 17 should have less than 100 mg of caffeine per day.
Caffeine Content Hidden
Caffeine can be found in more than your latte. It can be hidden in everyday products. This can add greatly to your total daily consumption. For starters, did you know that chocolate contains caffeine?
That rich, sweet, indulgent piece of chocolate you reach for may include a caffeine boost. The amount of caffeine in chocolate varies depending on the type and brand, but it’s something to keep in mind if
you’re trying to limit your caffeine intake, especially if you’ve been drinking coffee throughout the day and wonder why you have the jitters, a headache or can’t sleep at night.
With all the popularity of energy products another ingredient that is somewhat like caffeine is guarana seed extract.. Look closely at labels and you will often find this additive in products touting energy. The integrity and safety of guarana when added to sugary, caffeinated drinks is a consideration if you consume energy drinks like Monster, Rockstar and Red Bull.
For those particularly sensitive to caffeine, it is important to realize that even decaf coffee and teas contain some caffeine. Green tea and black teas naturally have caffeine. Black tea can have up to 80mg and Green Tea up to 40 mg of caffeine.
What about sodas? They can be like energy drinks when used by young children. At family picnics there’s often a huge cooler of soft drinks and you will see even small children self-serve – having multiple cans that can flood their system with an overload of caffeine.
Take a look at this surprising list of sodas and their caffeine level:
• Pepsi One: 55 mg
• Mr. Pibb: 40 mg
• Sunkist Orange: 42 mg
• Wild Cherry Pepsi: 38 mg
• Pepsi-Cola: 38 mg
• Mountain Dew: 37 mg
• Diet Pepsi: 36 mg
• Coca-Cola Zero: 35 mg
• Coca-Cola: 34mg
• Diet Coke: 30.4 mg
• Dr. Pepper: 27 mg
‘Truth in Labeling’ Needed Now
You would think that checking labels would be the answer to safety in consumption of products with caffeine and guarana. Consumer Reports shows otherwise. In an investigation of label contents, caffeine levels per serving ranged from about 6 milligrams to 242 milligrams per serving—and some containers have more than one serving. The highest level was in 5-hour Energy Extra Strength.
Now with the energy drink Prime being marketed to children, the government is taking notice. Prime delivers 200 milligrams of caffeine in their 12 oz serving. It is suggested children under the age of 12 have no caffeine, so the social media influencers marketing this beverage to youth are a concern.
According to John Hopkins children and adolescents are also still developing and the impact of caffeine on their nervous systems and cardiovascular systems is not fully known. Too much caffeine can cause issues such as increased anxiety, increased heart rate and blood pressure, acid reflux and sleep disturbance. Too much caffeine is dangerous for kids, and in very high doses, can be toxic.
Going back to that picnic with the cooler of soda – you have likely witnessed the change in behavior of those children who had unlimited access. Hyperactivity is a common side effect that changes behavior and has the added effect of bringing disciplinary action on the child whose energy is off the charts because their nervous systems are sensitive to caffeine.
It is of concern to not to fully disclose the amount of caffeine in a highly caffeinated product that may cause a health risk to children and caffeine-sensitive individuals.
Who Should Avoid or Limit Caffeine?
Let’s check the symptoms of too much caffeine to see how many of these symptoms you would want to invite into your life:
• Headache.
• Insomnia.
• Nervousness.
• Irritability.
• Frequent urination or inability to control urination.
• Fast heartbeat.
• Muscle tremors.
If you were giving a presentation at work and were on your fifth cup of coffee for the day, this list will not enhance your performance. Let’s consider that your important presentation was like a ‘pre-existing condition’ that required limiting or even avoiding caffeine.
You wisely switched your choice to lemonade at a popular lunch spot, since you already had 3 cups of coffee that morning. By the time you had a refill on lemonade and were ready to leave for the appointment, you started experiencing some of the symptoms above. Your nerves were jumping and your heart was racing – more than any anticipation would warrant. On your way out of the restaurant you saw an advertisement for ‘Charged Lemonade’ powered by ‘clean caffeine’ from guarana and green coffee extract. Plant based and ‘clean’ with as much caffeine as our dark roast coffee. You google their dark roast coffee and find that it equals 260 mg of caffeine for the 20 oz. serving you consumed.! With an average of 340 mg of caffeine in your three cups of regular coffee (10 oz.) plus the 20 oz. ‘lemonade’ you are at 600 mg of caffeine from coffee coursing through your nervous system plus who knows the‘clean’ caffeine in guarana that was added. At over 200 mg. past your caffeine daily limit, it will take hours to fill normal again.
Clearly persons with certain health disorders, who anyone who intentionally wants to avoid caffeine because they are sensitive to caffeine or have a heart health condition could suffer a health event.
There is currently a lawsuit pending that claims the caffeine ‘Charged Lemonade’ at Panera Bread caused two cardiac arrests in a 21 year old woman who died as a result in 2022.
When Does It Kick In – How Long Does It Last?
That 8 oz. morning cup of java from Starbucks, with about 180 mg. of caffeine (almost half the caffeine daily limit) will give you the first burst about 15 minutes after it is consumed. The energy boost will peak about an hour later and for most people, will stay at this level for several hours.
It is of no comfort, if you are experiencing the jitters or fast-paced heart rate, to know that half of the effects linger for as long as six hours. It will take ten hours of abstinence for the caffeine to be completely cleared from your bloodstream.
It should be noted that the lasting effects from caffeine extracted from guarana seeds are dependent on the amount added to a product or beverage. Clearly there is a need for labeling the guarana extract that lives in the realm of unregulated ‘supplements’ with a caution as to the caffeine content and to note the safe caffeine daily intake.
Dangers of Mixing a Burst of Caffeine With Alcohol
Can you really have it both ways? Drinking excess alcohol in combination with high amounts of caffeine to offset the effects is never a good idea? First off, it will not help you if you are driving and get pulled over and must pass roadside DUI calisthenics. The alcohol/caffeine cocktail can be dangerous and possibly lethal.
A study, surveying college students in the US, shows how common this combo use of energy drinks and alcohol is. The research revealed that 57% of women and 50% of men engaged in this practice. (Malinauskas et al., 2007)
When you mix energy drinks with alcohol, the effects are intensified. Caffeine does its job as a stimulant masking the depressant effects of alcohol. It inhibits your ability to assess the level of impairment from alcohol. This false confidence increases the likelihood of engaging in risky behavior and poor judgement. Drinking and driving may not seem risky at all. Marketing is catching up to accommodate pairing caffeine with alcohol and new products will emerge.
By early 2000, the market had picked up on the energy drink / alcohol combo trend and began producing caffeinated alcohol beverages (CABs). The statistics tracking alcohol poisonings, drunk driving and a host of other risky behaviors came to the attention of the Federal Trade Commission and in 2010 issued a warning letter to manufacturers of CAB brands Four Loko, Joose, Core Spiked and others about deceptive marketing.
Let’s talk about how CABS can take a toll on your nervous system. You may not even wonder why you feel impulsive because you are feeling overconfident. It is almost certain others will pick up on your hyperactivity, nervousness and over reaction to comments. At the same time, the alcohol will depress your central nervous system, making you feel overwhelmingly tired, but unable to relax. It is like you put high energy and a serious lack of sleep in a blender. The contrasting effects of alcohol and caffeine combined puts a significant strain on your body and may lead to serious health issues including addiction to caffeine.
Quitting Caffeine? Take It Slow
If you have been consuming 300- 600 mg of caffeine daily or more, dependence on caffeine is likely to occur. Symptoms include:
• Nausea
• Anxiety
• Sleeplessness
• Restlessness
If you have tried to quit and failed to quit caffeine and continued to consume caffeine, even though you experience these negative effects – a dependence on caffeine is evident. A quick indicator is the ‘quitting caffeine headache’ that is resolved by consuming caffeine.
Quitting caffeine is best done on with a gradual reduction to avoid unpleasant symptoms. It is suggested to cut back to half for a week. A great way to start this process is to mix decaf and regular coffee (or tea) in a 50/50 ratio for the first week. Using this method, it is easy to keep reducing week after week until your symptoms of dependence are resolved. Remember that decaf coffee and tea still contain small amounts of caffeine that can still trigger unpleasant caffeine dependence symptoms for some.
Call It ‘Energy’ ‘Charged’ etc. – But Label It!
Regulations will likely never catch up to the marketing for super-charged energy products that are packaged to be appealing and ‘clean’. Unless the energy derivative is clearly stated on the label with the milligrams of caffeine assigned, a product cannot be assumed to be safe. As for ‘clean’, it is a misleading claim that relates to plant products where caffeine occurs ‘naturally’. If the claim ‘clean’ is there. without the label coming ‘clean’ with full disclosure, it is an advertising ploy. Please share this information from the National Institute of Health with your legislators (listed at Congress.gov) Ask them to demand that the FDA regulate the industry and require truth in labeling for all caffeinated products and to include safe daily consumption levels for age groups.