How much caffeine is too much?
Caffeine does many things. It can boost energy, memory and performance. It eases headaches, prevents constipation and type 2 diabetes. It even protects against brain diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Too much of it can make you anxious, nervous or jittery, affect sleep, digestion, blood pressure, heart rate and rhythm. And it can damage a […]
Caffeine does many things. It can boost energy, memory and performance. It eases headaches, prevents constipation and type 2 diabetes. It even protects against brain diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
Too much of it can make you anxious, nervous or jittery, affect sleep, digestion, blood pressure, heart rate and rhythm. And it can damage a developing heart, blood vessels and nervous.
So how much is too much? Many things you eat probably already has caffeine.
Green tea: 23cl (nearly half a 50cl coke bottle) contains 28mg of caffeine.
For black tea, the same amount will give you 47mg caffeine.
The same amount of iced tea contain between 25 and 48mg caffeine.
For the same volume, brewed coffee packs up to 180mg caffeine, more than three times what you get in tea.
Espressos come in volumes four times smaller but still carry 126mg caffeine.
At 24cl, only decaffeinated coffee has around 15mg caffeine. That’s why they are called ‘decaf’ anyway, with up to 97% of their caffeine content removed.
In energy drinks, a serving of up to 50cl carries up to 350mg caffeine. And extra ingredients like guarana hide extra caffeine, while artificial sweeteners can make it easy to drink too much of them.
One piece of caffeinate gum can carry up to 100mg caffeine. And a piece of tasty dark chocolate can pack 24mg of the stuff. It doesn’t stop there. Some pain relievers you buy over the counter has them, up to 130 mg caffeine.
So what’s too much? The amount of caffeine people can handle differs but there’s some limit to what you should have daily, even if you don’t feel bothered. Ok; up to 400mg a day for adults as part of a healthy diet. Once you start hitting 600mg, you are probably taking too much.