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Caffeine: How much is too much?

Caffeine has its perks, but it can pose problems too. Find out how much is too much and if you need to curb your consumption.
By Mayo Clinic Staff
If you rely on caffeine to wake you up and keep you going, you aren't alone. Millions of people rely on caffeine every day to stay alert and improve concentration.

How much is too much?

Up to 400 milligrams (mg) of caffeine a day appears to be safe for most healthy adults. That's roughly the amount of caffeine in four cups of brewed coffee, 10 cans of cola or two "energy shot" drinks. Keep in mind that the actual caffeine content in beverages varies widely, especially among energy drinks.

Caffeine in powder or liquid form can provide toxic levels of caffeine, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cautioned. Just one teaspoon of powdered caffeine is equivalent to about 28 cups of coffee. Such high levels of caffeine can cause serious health problems and possibly death.

Although caffeine use may be safe for adults, it's not a good idea for children. Adolescents and young adults need to be cautioned about excessive caffeine intake and mixing caffeine with alcohol and other drugs.

Women who are pregnant or who are trying to become pregnant and those who are breast-feeding should talk with their doctors about limiting caffeine use to less than 200 mg daily.

Even among adults, heavy caffeine use can cause unpleasant side effects. And caffeine may not be a good choice for people who are highly sensitive to its effects or who take certain medications.

Read on to see if you may need to curb your caffeine routine.

You drink more than 4 cups of coffee a day

You may want to cut back if you're drinking more than 4 cups of caffeinated coffee a day (or the equivalent) and you have side effects such as:

Headache

Insomnia

Nervousness

Irritability

Frequent urination or inability to control urination

Fast heartbeat

Muscle tremors

Even a little makes you jittery

Some people are more sensitive to caffeine than are others. If you're susceptible to the effects of caffeine, even small amounts may prompt unwanted effects, such as restlessness and sleep problems.

How you react to caffeine may be determined in part by how much caffeine you're used to drinking. People who don't regularly drink caffeine tend to be more sensitive to its effects.

You're not getting enough sleep

Caffeine, even in the afternoon, can interfere with your sleep. Even small amounts of sleep loss can add up and disturb your daytime alertness and performance.

Using caffeine to mask sleep deprivation can create an unwelcome cycle. For example, you may drink caffeinated beverages because you have trouble staying awake during the day. But the caffeine keeps you from falling asleep at night, shortening the length of time you sleep.

You're taking medications or supplements

Some medications and herbal supplements may interact with caffeine. Examples include:

Ephedrine. Mixing caffeine with this medication - which is used in decongestants - might increase your risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke or seizure.

Theophylline. This medication, used to open up bronchial airways, tends to have some caffeine-like effects. So taking it with caffeine might increase the adverse effects of caffeine, such as nausea and heart palpitations.

Echinacea. This herbal supplement, which is sometimes used to prevent colds or other infections, may increase the concentration of caffeine in your blood and may increase caffeine's unpleasant effects.

Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about whether caffeine might affect your medications.

Curbing your caffeine habit

Whether it's for one of the reasons above or because you want to trim your spending on coffee drinks, cutting back on caffeine can be challenging. An abrupt decrease in caffeine may cause withdrawal symptoms, such as headaches, fatigue, irritability and difficulty focusing on tasks. Fortunately, these symptoms are usually mild and get better after a few days.

To change your caffeine habit, try these tips:

Keep tabs. Start paying attention to how much caffeine you're getting from foods and beverages, including energy drinks. Read labels carefully. But remember that your estimate may be a little low because some foods or drinks that contain caffeine don't list it.

Cut back gradually. For example, drink one fewer can of soda or drink a smaller cup of coffee each day. Or avoid drinking caffeinated beverages late in the day. This will help your body get used to the lower levels of caffeine and lessen potential withdrawal effects.

Go decaf. Most decaffeinated beverages look and taste much the same as their caffeinated counterparts.

Shorten the brew time or go herbal. When making tea, brew it for less time. This cuts down on its caffeine content. Or choose herbal teas that don't have caffeine.

Check the bottle. Some over-the-counter pain relievers contain caffeine. Look for caffeine-free pain relievers instead.

The bottom line

If you're like most adults, caffeine is a part of your daily routine. Usually, it won't pose a health problem. But be mindful of caffeine's possible side effects and be ready to cut back if necessary.

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Show references

1. Lieberman HR, et al. Daily patterns of caffeine intake and the association of intake with multiple sociodemographic and lifestyle factors in U.S. adults based on the NHANES 2007-2012 surveys. Journal of the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. 2019; doi:10.1016/j.jand.2018.08.152.

2. 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture. https://health.gov/our-work/food-nutrition/2015-2020-dietary-guidelines/guidelines. Accessed Feb. 1, 2020.

3. Spilling the beans: How much caffeine is too much. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/spilling-beans-how-much-caffeine-too-much. Accessed Sept. 20, 2019.

4. Duyff RL. Think your drinks. In: Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Complete Food and Nutrition Guide. 5th ed. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 2017.

5. Bordeaux B. Benefits and risks of caffeine and caffeinated beverages. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/search. Accessed Sept. 20, 2019.

6. Pure and highly concentrated caffeine. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. https://www.fda.gov/food/dietary-supplement-products-ingredients/pure-and-highly-concentrated-caffeine. Accessed Sept. 20, 2019.

7. Caffeine. Natural Medicines. https://naturalmedicines.therapeuticresearch.com. Accessed Feb. 7, 2020.

See more In-depth

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Caffeine has its perks, but it can pose problems too. Find out how much is too much and if you need to curb your consumption. By Mayo Clinic Staff If you rely on caffeine to wake you up and keep you going, you aren't alone.

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This article would receive a 5.5/6.The author would receive a 1.5 on author credibility because the author knows about the topic and works at the clinic.However, the author may be biased on the topic due to where they work. The author would receive a 2 on both punctuation due to no spelling and grammar errors and a 2 on the source credibility due to the high quality sources and citations.

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According to this article, "Up to 400 mg of caffeine a day appears to be safe for an adult." However, you can often experience side affects due to daily caffeine intake and too much intake. This information can be useful to answer the question on How much caffeine is safe for an adult?

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What that energy drink can do to your body | CNN

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Here's a look at some of the most commonly used ingredients in energy drinks and why health experts are worried that drinking too much could wreak havoc on your body.

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This source would receive a 4.5/6 due to many reasons. This source would receive a 1 on source credibility due to the facts being credible within and also the article contains links to other website that deal with this same topic. However the website is CNN which can contain bias information. This source would receive a 2 on the punctuation due to no grammatical errors or spelling errors. Lastly, this source would receive a 2 on author credibility due to the author being credible to speak on this topic.

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Last month, a 16-year-old tragically lost his life after consuming an energy drink, a soda and a latte - drinks routinely consumed by and often intensively marketed to youths - all within a few hours. The boy's heart simply couldn't cope with the amount of caffeine in the beverages, according to the coroner.

The teen wasn't the first to pay a terrible price for drinking popular beverages that are commonly (but mistakenly) considered safe, but he should be the last. The government must take steps to reduce caffeine levels allowed in energy drinks; to clearly provide recommendations on safe caffeine consumption for children and adolescents; to ban the marketing of energy drinks to young people of all ages; and to help educate the public on the health risks of high caffeine intake.

Caffeine is a strong and potentially dangerous stimulant, particularly for children and adolescents. When people think of the drug, they generally think of coffee. But less widely known is that a single serving of an energy drink (Monster Energy, Red Bull, 5-hour Energy and Rockstar, to name a few) may contain many times more caffeine than a cup of coffee.

Making matters worse, consumers do not know the risks of the high levels of caffeine in an energy drink. Nutrition labels are not legally required to include information about caffeine content - a critical and potentially life-threatening omission. Many drink manufacturers have initiated voluntary labeling initiatives, but they are not consistently applied and do not provide adequate information to ensure consumers appropriately interpret the level of risk a beverage presents. Labels are a first step - necessary, but not sufficient.

Unlike coffee, energy drinks are widely marketed to adolescents, putting them at risk of extreme caffeine overload with potentially devastating cardiovascular and neurological consequences. From 2005 to 2011, energy drink-related emergency-room visits rosefrom 1,494 to 20,783. This included high rates of unintentional exposure in children younger than 6.

In 2011, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a report on the appropriateness of sports and energy drinks for children and adolescents, concluding that "energy drinks pose potential health risks because of the stimulants they contain, and should never be consumed by children and adolescents." In 2013, the American Medical Association adopted a policy supporting a ban on the marketing of energy drinks to those under 18, arguing that energy drinks could lead to a host of issues in young people, including heart problems.

Still, energy drink consumption has skyrocketed in recent years, even as soda consumption has begun to decline. Given the danger energy drinks pose to children and teens with no potential benefit to their health or well-being, the marketing and advertising of these products to young people must stop. We applaud effortsby Sens. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Edward Markey, D-Mass., to move in this direction, and expect more of their colleagues in Congress to follow suit.

Because manufacturers add caffeine to energy drinks, it is subject to regulation by the Food and Drug Administration as a food additive. In fact, the FDA has recognized the risks of high caffeine consumption and imposed a 71-milligram limit on the amount of caffeine that may be added to a 12-ounce soda. However, no limits are imposed on the caffeine content of energy drinks, and containers easily can hold 200 to 300 milligramsor more. There is no justification for this regulatory distinction. Children and adolescents drinking energy drinks need as much protection as those drinking Coke and Pepsi.

Young people ages 12 through 17 - almost one-third of whom consume energy drinks regularly - are entitled to information that could save their lives. The FDA's limits on added caffeine in colas should be applied to energy drinks, and the amount of caffeine added to an energy drink should be listed on its nutrition label, including a distinct front-of-package warning for drinks with caffeine levels greater than those allowed in soda. Information based on scientific testing should also be made available on the effects of energy drink additives, such as guarana and taurine, that can increase the potency and increase the effects of caffeine.

As sales of energy drinks rise every year, the need to act becomes even more critical. Steps to protect the health of our children are both feasible and necessary. The problem has been identified. Now is the time to act.
Washington Post Crawford is senior director of research at the University of California's Nutrition Policy Institute and an adjunct professor at the University of California at Berkeley. Gosliner is a project scientist at the Nutrition Policy Institute.

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Energy drinks are killing teenagers. This has to stop.

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Last month, a 16-year-old tragically lost his life after consuming an energy drink, a soda and a latte - drinks routinely consumed by and often intensively marketed to youths - all within a few hours. The boy's heart simply couldn't cope with the amount of caffeine in the beverages, according to the coroner.

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Source #2 Information to answer research question

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According to this article, the global energy drink market is expected to reach $61 billion in 2021. Also in this article I read that most people do not know details about the vitamins and other substances they drink in those energy drinks that could be harmful. This information in the source could help answer the research question.

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This source does not contain many facts however, it mostly talks about how the teenager died and deals with extreme language when explaining the effects of caffeine. This source mainly talks about the increase in usage of caffeine in teens at an unhealthy rate.

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This source would receive a 4 out of 6. This source would receive a 1 on the source credibility due to in the title it states commentary which can be associated with opinion articles. These opinions can contain bias information. The source would receive 2 on the punctuation. Lastly, the source would receive a 1 on the author credibility due to the fact that the authors are just people who work for Washington post and they could be writing certain things to grab readers attention versus focusing on facts.