How Much Caffeine Is In Stuff

Caffeine is all around us but what is it and how much is in the stuff we consume? Caffeine is a psychoactive drug that stimulates your central nervous system. Unlike most psychoactive drugs, caffeine is completely legal and virtually unregulated world-wide.

The most obvious impact caffeine has on your body is the ability to wake you up and keep you awake. It does this by blocking the action of adenosine on its receptor which prevents the onset of drowsiness normally induced by adenosine. On top of that, it also stimulates certain parts of your autonomic nervous system.

So make no mistake, it's a drug. As with any drug, small doses may be okay while larger doses may have some very negative impacts on your health. So how much is safe? According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), caffeine is classified as Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS). A daily dose over 10,000 milligrams (mg) is considered toxic to adults while doses under 500 milligrams are more typical per day.

So let's see how much caffeine is in everyday products that we consume.

Soda Pop

A 12 ounce can of Coke or Pepsi has around 29mg of caffeine in it. Caffeine free versions usually have none but many clear sodas like Sprite, 7-Up, and some cream sodas also have zero caffeine in them. Red Bull has 80mg for the smaller 8.5 ounce cans and 114mg for the 12 ounce sizes. That's around 4 times as much as a Coke or Pepsi!

Coffee

This one varies. A lot! An average 8 ounce cup of coffee is likely to contain between 95mg and 200mg of caffeine. It all depends on the bean, roasting process, and how long the coffee was brewed. The added problem here is that many coffee drinkers don't stop at 8 ounces. For example, a 20 ounce Venti of Pike Place Roast from Starbucks has around 415mg of caffeine in it!

Even decaffeinated coffees still have some caffeine in them, usually around 2-12mg per 8 ounce serving, which can also add up.

Tea

Many people don't realize that tea contains caffeine. Many brewed black teas have around 14-70mg of the stuff while green teas average around 24-45mg per 8 ounce serving.

Excedrin

Each caplet of Excedrin Extra Strength contains 65mg of caffeine. The dose for anyone over 12 is 2 caplets so that's 130mg total. Caffeine is known to both cause headaches as well as help them. Caffeine withdrawal is a common headache cause which is why Excedrin works so well as it gets you right back on that caffeinated high your body craves.

5 Hour Energy

These crazy little bottles pack 2 ounces of go-juice which contain around 200mg of caffeine. That's a serious punch in such a small package. Why anyone would drink these is beyond me.

Energy Water

Or sugar water or vitamin infused water if you prefer. These bottled drinks often have a dose of caffeine around 50mg or so, though it varies a lot depending on the exact product. Many labeled as "energy" waters have even more.

Chocolate

Yes, even chocolate has caffeine in it since it's naturally occurring in cocoa. Most chocolate candy bars have less than 10mg of caffeine but darker chocolates often have much more. For example, Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Bar has 31mg of the stuff in it. Some chocolate bars even go beyond that and add additional caffeination like the Snickers Charge which stuffs 60mg in it!