Whether you have a soda in the middle of the day or a cup of coffee when you get up, caffeine is a common element of many people’s days. However, how much caffeine is too much, and is it dangerous?
One research found that 85% of Americans drink at least one caffeinated beverage daily, consuming 165 mg of caffeine each day!
For the majority of people, caffeine is a part of a healthy diet. However, consuming too much might be harmful to your health. The recommended daily intake of caffeine is covered in this page.
Additionally, it discusses the warning signs and symptoms of caffeine overuse as well as ways to cut back.
How Much Caffeine Is Too Much Per Day?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration advises against people consuming more than 400 mg of caffeine per day. About four or five cups of coffee are equivalent to this.
Children and teens should not take more caffeine than is recommended by the FDA.
Canada advises against giving children and teenagers (up to 18) more than 2.5 mg per kilogram (kg) of body weight.
A youngster who weighs 50 kg (112 pounds) should consume no more than 20 mg of caffeine per day, according to these recommendations.
Be aware that one can of cola contains between 36 and 46 milligrams of caffeine.
Caffeine can affect some people more severely than others. Reduce your consumption if you start to feel the effects of too much caffeine.
For young children and teenagers
The EFSA advises utilizing the adult population’s upper limit for single doses (3 milligrams per kilogram of body weight) as the younger population’s upper limit for daily consumption despite the fact that “evidence available is inadequate to derive a safe caffeine intake” for children and adolescents.
However, evaluations from Health Canada and non-governmental organizations have recommended a lower upper limit of 2.5 mg/kg/day. According to Health Canada, the following estimated limitations result from 2.5 mg/kg/day:
- 45 mg daily for ages 4-6.
- Ages 7-9: 62.5 mg daily
- Ages 10 to 12: 85 mg daily
Other organizations have urged an even greater investigation and prudence in this demographic, especially with regard to the amount of caffeine in energy drinks. The Health and Medicine Division has advised against selling caffeinated beverages to students at schools.
The current recommendation for children and teenagers is 2.5 or 3 mg/kg/day of caffeine, however, this estimate is mostly based on research in adults.
Numerous groups have asked for greater study in this area, so it’s best to keep kids’ caffeine intake under control until more information can be gathered.
Healthy adults
According to the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA), the US National Academies of Science (NAS), and Health Canada, caffeine doses up to 400 mg per day don’t pose any general health risks for healthy persons.
Although you can take more, the majority of healthy people can consistently ingest 400 mg of caffeine per day without experiencing any unwarranted bad side effects.
Furthermore, according to the EFSA, even “when eaten less than two hours before to strenuous physical exercise,” up to 200 mg of caffeine at once doesn’t pose a health risk for the majority of people. However, they warn that consuming 100 mg of caffeine right before bed may impair the quality of your sleep.
The half-life of caffeine is 5 hours (on average; it varies widely across individuals), thus if you’ve had coffee within the previous 10 hours, you probably still have caffeine in your system.
For those whose heart health is at risk
Caffeine’s ability to temporarily elevate blood pressure for 3–4 hours is widely known (though this effect normally decreases with regular intake).
The long-term consequences of frequent caffeine use are less clear among those who have high blood pressure or established cardiac issues, or in those for whom stimulants, in general, are contraindicated.
The long-term effects of regular caffeine consumption are less clear in people with high blood pressure or cardiac health concerns; low to moderate intakes may be safe, but talk to your doctor first.
The cardiovascular risk of healthy adults does not appear to increase with caffeine intakes of up to 400 mg/day.
For mothers who are nursing or expecting
Women who are breastfeeding, pregnant, or trying to get pregnant should keep their daily caffeine intake to 200 mg, according to an EFSA review.
Although 300 mg/day has been deemed safe by other studies, you could be cutting it close because taking more raises the chance of nausea and, worse, miscarriage.
Since there are few randomized controlled studies in pregnant or nursing women, it may be wise to err on the side of less caffeine consumption, especially since the half-life of caffeine rises during the last 4 weeks of pregnancy from an average of 3 hours for non-pregnant women to 10.5 hours.
For example, some of the caffeine you ingest in the morning is added to the caffeine you ingest after lunch, so you may end up with a much higher dose coursing through your body than you ever thought possible when you are pregnant because your body takes much longer to eliminate the caffeine you consume.
The Effects of Excessive Caffeine
Overindulging in caffeine may have negative side effects. Caffeine overdose symptoms include the following:
- Headache
- Anxiety
- difficulty sleeping
- Irritability
- elevated heart rate
- heightened thirst
- often urinating
- chest pain
Medicines and Coffee
The effects of drugs may be affected by caffeine use, which can also change how they function. The following drugs are impacted by caffeine use.
- Antidepressants
- Sedatives
- Antipsychotics
- Drugs for blood pressure
- Anticoagulants
- Drugs for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s
- cancer treatments
- thyroid-related drugs
- Antibiotics
- NSAIDs
- medicine for migraines
- Estrogen
- Oxandrolone
To avoid issues with absorption, ask your doctor how caffeine may interact with your prescription drugs.
How to Cut Back on Caffeine
Following this advice can help you consume less caffeine:
Replace high-caffeine meals and beverages with low- or no-caffeine alternatives to lower caffeine consumption. Reduce your caffeine intake initially to prevent caffeine withdrawal.
For instance, consider switching to herbal tea for your second cup of tea or ordering half-caf coffee, which is coffee that contains both caffeinated and decaffeinated beans.
Increase your water intake to combat weariness and boost your mood and vitality.
Increase your intake of nutrient-rich meals such as those high in vitamin C, iron, magnesium, zinc, fiber, and the B complex vitamins to reduce fatigue.
These may be discovered in various foods, including milk, cheese, eggs, liver, chicken, organ meat, tuna, mackerel, salmon, clams, nuts, seeds, whole grains, and vibrantly colored leafy green vegetables.
Can I include coffee in my diet to promote heart health?
Whole milk, cream, syrups, and sugar all include calories and saturated fat that might lead to weight gain and elevated cholesterol levels.
We need additional studies to determine the mechanism underlying the association between coffee consumption and increased life expectancy, which was recently suggested by two studies.
We are aware that consuming it in moderation doesn’t appear to harm your heart.
It’s arguably more crucial to consider your coffee-drinking habits. Whole milk, cream, syrups, and sugar all include calories and saturated fat that might raise cholesterol and lead to weight gain.
Your heart health may benefit more by drinking unsweetened coffee and switching from whole milk to skim, 1%, or semi-skimmed milk than by concentrating on diet and exercise.
Should I stay away from energy drinks since they contain caffeine?
Energy drinks have a terrible image for being high in caffeine, but in truth, they only have 80 mg per 250 ml, which is slightly more than a cup of tea and less than a cup of instant coffee, both of which have 100 mg.
There are additional reasons, too, why you might want to stay away from energy drinks. The maximum quantity of sugar we should consume in a single day is around seven teaspoons, which is included in one 250 ml can.
Choose sugar-free energy drinks whenever possible if you like them.
Conclusion
Hope you have understood how much caffeine you should be taking. As we know excess of anything is too much, hence, too much caffeine can cause health hazards.
Be careful!
Let us know in the comment section what your thoughts are about this article
Good luck!
Author
Sarwar Abdullah
Content Developer at Healthy Natural Diet
Author Bio
Content writing is my passion. And I believe in following my dreams to achieve my goal in life! I am a full-time entrepreneur who believes in investing his time in his profession and passion equally.
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