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For most Americans, caffeine consumption is part of our everyday life. And it’s gone way beyond cola. Recently caffeine-added foods have burst on the scene—like jelly beans, trail mix, and even gum—joining traditional beverages like coffee and more recent offerings like caffeine-added energy drinks.
While caffeine isn’t a new ingredient, it is being delivered to consumers in new ways. This boost of caffeine in our diets has prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take a closer look at safety as well as caffeine’s effects on children and adolescents. In fact, Wrigley’s recently announced it was taking its new caffeine-added gum off the market temporarily, related to the FDA’s regulatory concerns.
Interestingly, the FDA has only once explicitly approved the addition of caffeine to food or drink—back in the 1950s for colas. Today caffeine’s regulatory classification is “Generally Recognized As Safe,” or GRAS. What it means is manufacturers can add it to products and then determine, on their own, whether the product is safe for consumers.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends adolescents get no more than 100 mg of caffeine a day, and that younger children shouldn’t drink any caffeinated beverages on a regular basis.
Here’s a short list of the caffeine you’re getting in some popular drinks:
• Barq’s root beer, 12 oz., 18 mg
• Diet Pepsi, 12 oz., 27-37 mg
• Coca-Cola Zero, 12 oz., 35 mg
• Diet Coke, 12 oz., 38-47 mg
• Restaurant-style espresso, 1 oz., 40-75 mg
• Mountain Dew, 12 oz., 46-55 mg
• Red Bull, 8.4 oz., 76-80 mg
• Monster, 8 oz., 80 mg
• McDonald’s brewed coffee, 16 oz., 100 mg
• McDonald’s Mocha Frappe, 16 oz., 125 mg
• Starbuck’s latte, 16 oz., 150 mg
• 5-Hour Energy, 2 oz., 207 mg
• Starbuck’s Pike Place brewed coffee, 16 oz., 330 mg
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