If you’ve been drinking coffee for any length of time, you’ve probab...
It’s really nice, this coffee stuff, ain’t it? Warms you up on a cold day, keeps you going when the temperature rises, grinds away the rough edges after a hard night and makes the hours at work seem like minutes. The temptation with coffee is to just keep pounding it down but you might not want to do that.
According to the American Dietetic Association’s Complete Food and Nutrition Guide, which isn’t much of a bedtime read, “for most healthy adults, moderate amounts of caffeine 200 to 300 milligrams a day, or about two cups of coffee poses no physical problem.”
Okay, so two cups is good. But is three cups of coffee too much? In a word – yes.
According to the boffins who study this kind of thing for a living, you should not only keep it to two cups per day, but you should also actively seek to reduce your caffeine consumption in soft drinks and chocolate, and even over-the-counter and prescription medications. In fact, if there are other factors influencing your health, you might want to go even a step further and reduce the caffeine in your caffeine.
If you–
It’s time to switch to decaf, or even give coffee a miss altogether for a while.
Look, we’re all big fans of the brewed stuff around here. We send it down like water, but we also go to the gym, eat healthily, and take a few hours each night to just sit and relax. Coffee can get you through the stressful times, but if the stresses aren’t dealt with at their root cause, then you’re only going to be stressed again tomorrow.
Make sure that for every coffee you drink, you drink two full glasses of water, to help your system replenish what the caffeine takes out. For every cup of coffee that you NEED to get through the day, sit at home on the couch for one hour every night and read. Doesn’t matter what you’re reading (magazines, books, the back of a cereal box) the point is, you need to give your body a chance to slow down and relax naturally.
And, on top of that, ditch the sodas and chocolates altogether. Sure, we know you enjoy them, but you also know full well that they’re doing bad things to your insides.
Ultimately, coffee has to be seen as a trade-off. If you want to enjoy a cup of Joe, look after yourself in other areas and you’ll be sucking down the espressos for decades to come.
The National Soft Drink Association resource of caffeine contents.
| Drip | 115-175 mg of caffeine |
| Espresso | 100 |
| Brewed | 80-135 |
| Instant | 65-100 |
| Decaf, brewed | 3-4 |
| Decaf, instant | 2-3 |
| Tea, iced | 70 |
| Tea, brewed, imported | 60 |
| Tea, brewed, U.S. | 40 |
| Tea, instant | 30 |
| Mate | 25-150 |
The variability in the amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee or tea is relatively large even if prepared by the same person using the same equipment and ingredients day after day.
Caffeine is present in tea leaves and in coffee to the extent of about 4%. Tea also contains two other alkaloids, theobromine and theophylline. These last two relax the smooth muscles where caffeine stimulates the heart and respiratory systems.
The effects of theobromine are, compared to caffeine and theophylline, relatively moderate. However, cocoa contains eight times more theophylline than caffeine. As well, caffeine has been shown to combine with other substances for added potency. Thus the effects of theobromine might be enhanced by the caffeine in chocolate.
Theobromine is highly toxic to dogs and kills many dogs per year via chocolate poisoning. It takes quite a dose to reach fatal levels (more than 200 mg/kg bodyweight) but some dogs have a bad habit of eating out of garbage cans and some owners have a bad habit of feeding dogs candy. A few Oreos won’t hurt a dog, but a pound of chocolate can do considerable damage.
CONTINUED AT How Much Caffeine In A Cup Of Coffee, Tea, Cola or Chocolate Bar
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Sheila says
My nephew is addicted to coffee. My Grandmother used to give him sips of black coffee as a toddler. The fact that my sister drinks it morning til night doesn’t help and she thinks its “cute” that her 12 year old son drinks cups of coffee like a fish drinks water. Whats wrong with people? Is this what being social is about, having common addictions? How sad.
Veritas says
@Mechille @Zizza
20 cups of coffee a day may sound extreme, but I’m sure there are a lot of people doing it and I don’t think many die in the first week. I typically drink my coffee in a 20oz cup and drinking several of those doesn’t take long. I used to drink coffee throughout the day and typically worked anywhere from 15-30 hours straight. I had one of those large stainless steel coffee pots that held 42 cups of coffee and I would easily drink 20+ cups of coffee throughout the day and drank the entire thing on occasion.
I am not saying it’s good, healthy or otherwise, but saying it doesn’t take superman. I know many people that make their coffee double or triple strength and drink several cups.. so this would be equivalent to say 10 cups of coffee for a typical morning. I don’t know if they drink much coffee after that, but it wouldn’t surprise me, add in another cup an hour for the rest of the day and they would be drinking 20 cups of coffee as well. So there may be a great many of us.
These days I drink a couple of red line extremes. A little over 1000mg of caffeine in two and seems to work ok. I figure a few of those throughout the day and I have technically cut my caffeine intake down from what it used to be. And, again, not recommending it, just saying… still here a week later.
jungie says
i love coffee and i usually take a double shot,2 times a week,thin every time i drunk it i feel awake over having sweat in my forehead.what was the scientific explaination on that?
heidi says
i heard on radio the other day that balzac died on account of drinking too much coffee. they said he would drink up to 40 cups, i believe, of turkish coffee (which is especially strong) every day. this is how much is too much.
personally, if i’m getting headaches on days i don’t drink coffee, because of the caffeine, i go off it for a day or two. if i’m getting addicted that is too much!
here is a little experiment i did about coffee and water. when i was in college i got dehydrated at one point and realised i didn’t drink nearly enough water. so for a week or so, every time i wanted coffee i reached for water instead. people underestimate how much of a difference in your energy there can be just from keeping hydrated. i felt just as much energy and just as refreshed from water alone (to be clear, several glasses of water in place of a cup of coffee. water’s not *that* good!) it was a lot cheaper and i felt a lot healthier! i still drink coffee now of course, and i know it too has health benefits, but i would just say don’t forget about water!!
Sydney says
I like my coffee everyday in the cold and when its warm,and you know how warm it can gets in Namibia. But lately i worry of when is enough enough? My hart beats is not normal anymore…but i love my coffee to much! Should i keep going or what?
auchnoch says
Some people’s attitudes ,like No.34, are hilarious.Or “you live only once”…
Certainly all in moderation is okay,but each body is different and some people prove that extremes didn’t harm them so far.
Question is only :Should people who WLLINGLY and KNOWINGLY over due coffee or other substances,bad food,alcohol then should be helped by the health system which we ALL finance?? My answer is NO.
That should set some poeple’s records straight.
Bac van le says
To be honest i have drank coffee now for over 30 years about 8 mugs a day and never had a problem. Normally about 2 when i wake up and the other 6 or so throughout the day. At the end of the day as long as you are healthy it wont cause you any damage. These days studies say this is bad for you etc etc now its coffee. Has not done me any harm!
dan says
To be honest i have drank coffee now for over 30 years about 8 mugs a day and never had a problem. Normally about 2 when i wake up and the other 6 or so throughout the day. At the end of the day as long as you are healthy it wont cause you any damage. These days studies say this is bad for you etc etc now its coffee. Has not done me any harm!
Simon says
I just try to stay away from anything too regular, so I drink coffee, but not every day, and not at the same time of day, like some people “have to have” coffee in the morning to wake up. Sometimes I don’t drink coffee for days, another day I might have 2-3 cups. I believe if it becomes a strong habit, it’s really an addiction and can’t be good for you.
Arigatomina says
Coffee gets a bad reputation. Maybe because coffee addicts tend to be smokers, or overeaters, or low blood pressure, or…all the people who shouldn’t be drinking caffeine in the first place. You know, people whose problems are already so big that adding a coffee adiction is the last straw. Blaming coffee for a high strung chain smoker’s inability to sleep at night? Right…
As one of those people who drink coffee as a substitute for juice (which is acidic and can be really hard to digest in large quantities, hard coming out, too, if it’s loaded in Vitamin C) and water (which tastes gross out of the tap and costs a fortune at stores), I don’t see any problems personally. I’m 30, so I’ve only been drinking coffee 24-7 for about ten years so far. I may develop problems when I’m older. We’ll see. In the meantime, my advice for the coffee addicts is to avoid adding anything to it. It’s the sugar and creamer and cappuccinos that are the problem. Once you add sugar to that coffee it becomes just as acidic and bad for you as soft drinks. If you’re getting headaches after 18hrs of coffee drinking, then you’re making it too strong. Then, yes, you need to drink some water in between pots or drink some weak ice tea (with little to no sugar) in between the coffee. Weak unsweetened ice tea will let you avoid the headaches (dehydration) and still give you your caffeine. As for caffiene crashes, I think once you can down four pots in a day you don’t have to worry about that any more. After a while you can consume as much as you want and your body won’t even notice. Then you’re just drinking it for the taste and the habit and it shouldn’t affect your sleep at all. If it still does, it’s probably pyschosomatic – you’re just blaming it instead of acknowledging whatever real stress is keeping you up. It’s kinda cheap to blame caffeine for your own problems when you know darn well your body is so used to the stuff it just flows right through you.
That’s my personal experience, anyway. I don’t drink coffee in the mornings unless I’m loading it with sugar and calories and calling it breakfast. I much prefer an actual meal to give me energy in the mornings. I haven’t used coffee as a “pick me up” in years. It’s not. My caffeine tolerance is just too high for it to affect me now. It’s my non-acidic beverage of choice, that’s all. I especially enjoy it in the evenings. I fall asleep the fastest if I drink a strong pot of coffee before bedtime. I may wake up thirsty/hungry with a full bladder, but it does make for a nice alarm clock if you have a tendency to oversleep. And a nice compulsion to eat in the mornings, since a good meal really does give you more energy than caffeine/nicotine ever will.
Murry River says
I have two cups of coffee for every hour that I am awake and have been for fifty years,I am now seventy two years old and still capable and able to live alone and look after myself therefore I would say that consumption of coffee is different for all of us and we are all affected in different way’s
BJK says
I found this late, but have many thoughts on the matter.
Please rest assured, that if you drink coffee, the chances are good you will live forever, and I will tell you why.
Coffee is an alkaloid, a class of naturally-occuring compounds unsurpassed in their beneficial impact on human health.
Time after time, for the past 10 + years, every supposed clinical study looking at coffee consumption that intially claimed some detrimental effect or other, has been debunked.
Coffee, for many people that suffer from cyclic or low-grade depression, is an outstanding natural antidepressant: I can attest to this after years.
I have one very strong suggestion for those people worried about their intake of caffeine, which I agree should fall within a reasonable limit.
Stay away from Starbucks coffee especially! Why?
They make an exceptionally, too strong, imo, brew: cleary a very high ground to water ratio.
Far better is, as has been commente on above, to brew a weaker pot of coffee, maybe half the strength of Starbucks, and you can enjoy this all day without becoming too jittery.
All the other compounds that make up brewed coffee are safe, and the mental edge and feeling of well-being are worth their weight in gold!
johnypasha.rgu says
My mess coffee is very bad, sometimes it may sweet,sometimes the coffee powder will become more in coffee.
Andy says
For all those who suffer from heartburn and other effects associated with coffee….. Try this, it worked for me.
Skip the milk and sugar!
John Flou says
Isn’t there 100 mg of caffeine in 2 oz espresso serving? Not 100 mg in 7 oz espresso serving.
Angie Fay Dry says
I also drink 8 cups of coffee a day and wonder if this is too much. Although, I walk 5-8 miles a day and follow a low-carb lifestyle. None of the white stuff…I don’t consume any alcohol either. I feel that coffee is the one thing I enjoy although I know I consume it in excess. Any thoughts on this????
matthew says
I go through 2 pots a day and hardley no water then soda at night and 6 sleeping pills this article is making me think I am hurting the insides of my body. does it effect the kidneys to and liver like alcohol? I replaced coffee with alcohol because the DR said I am drinking to much liquor . which is harming me more?
Rob says
I have been drinking at least 16 cups of straight coffee a day for years now. sometimes even more, up to 100 oz. a day. I am 29 years old and have been drinking coffee since i was 17-18 years old. I really do believe coffee is more beneficial to health then they can even comprehend. Have had panic attacks, but didn’t go to the hospital over it. :)
Jim says
One day, we went to a local coffee shop. A small group of people were supposed to be “right behind” us. I thought it would be nice to buy everyone a cup of espresso, so I bought like seven double-shots of coffee. Well the other folks didn’t show up, and the one person with me only drank one cup. I drank the other six “doubles”. I got dizzy and felt all weird. Then my heart started to “palpitate” or whatever (my heartbeat was all over the place). I felt all jittery and just about had a panic attack. My buddy drove me to a hospital nearby, and we just sat in the car in the parking lot for about three or four hours until I felt good enough to go home. I still drink coffee now and then, but I found MY limit. Too much caffeine is NOT fun.
david wallace says
I drink alot of coffee, and I’ve heard from some that coffee, and not just caffeine can rob you of
calcium and make your bones weak. Do you know if this is true?
Nick says
I have 6-8 cups a day, some water every now & then, but i’am only 20 i been drinking this stuff for all my life when i was a baby i had it in my botle! so should i slow down,will i die from it? lol just let me know it’s bad or what thanks
Lu says
Well, I work in a Expresso Machine factory, and I drink EXPRESSO probably 3 or 4 times per day. I do not have any kind of health problems (that is coffee related). I wonder why some people make these kind of comments about health, coffee and so on, when they eat fast food wich is ten times worse. I don’t eat fast food or saturated fat and I drink coffee and tea on a regular basis and I am ok…
Christopher says
People like you, Mr. KeithF, crack me up.
You’re right, you do live only once, so why not take care of yourself while you can? It doesn’t make any sense to risk shortening the already miniscule lifespans we have, does it?
As it is I am 20 years old, and have never consistently consumed any caffeine product. But as of late, I’ve found myself increasingly attracted to these “5 Hour Energy” shots.
Supposedly they aren’t that bad, if at all bad for you. And with only four calories, and a load of viatamins and minerals, I’m having a hard time finding a reason to not drink them when I need a boost.
It’s not something I take daily, but I definitely have one or two of them a week. Especially lately with these college courses I’m taking.
Does anyone know of any reasons I should lay off them? They’re listed as only having as much caffeine as a single cup of coffee, so…
Thanks in advance,
Chris
KeithF says
I have been drinking coffee since I was 7. I am now 43. I use creamer (half-n-half) and real sugar. None of that manmade garbage for me. I drink about 10 cups a day and have no real problems. I am bald though, I wonder if caffiene caused my hair to fall out?? :) Oh, I sleep fine at night. So, I say, enjoy the coffee, you only live once.
Adrian says
Sonja
A cup of coffee is not going to make you lose much calcium. In fact if you’re worried about the calcium, just put some milk in your coffee each time you drink to offset the calcium loss.
I also drink 4 cups of soya product (loads of calcium) a day, in addition to training with weights to keep the bones strong.
I have great teeth and bones, and do not blame coffee at all.
Adrian
Sonja says
My daughter says I drink too much coffee (2 large carafes!); so to compromise in the morning I make a carafe of decaf green tea in the coffee maker for us both. Then after she has left for school I make my own carafe with 2/3s decaf and 1/3 regular coffee and start my work in the home office.
But after researching the relationship of caffeine and osteoporosis (which I have at only age 45 due to cancer treatments!) I am trying to eliminate all caffeine. Caffeine flushes out the calcium in your body. I have been feeling so much better (more alert during the day and sleeping better at night). My daughter was right!
Adrian says
I like coffee but I found when I was drinking a pot ( roughly 3 mugs or 6 cups) I was not getting proper sleep even though I had my last cup around 4 pm.. In the days that followed I actually felt more tired because the lack of proper sleep. The diarehha too was uncomfortable.
However, I had now reduced to 2 mugs a day (about 4 cups). I have it with meals now to make my digestion work better.
However, the real reason I liked coffee is because it made my squinty chinese looking eyes (I’m not chinese I’m east indian) much bigger and more attractive (so says my wife). I find when reducing to 2 mugs a day I don’t get this effect anymore.
Any suggestions how to make the eyes big and awake without going over 2 mugs?
Thanks
Adrian
James says
Hi, I’m 14 years old and I drink an average of 16 cups of coffee per day. I’m very healthy, and am wondering if I have developed a resistance to caffeine.
Sami says
That’s why half the coffee I drink overall is decaf. And besides if all the coffee you drink is caffeinated, then you get too used to it & don’t feel the kick as much anymore. So when I do drink the ledded stuff I get the punch I’m looking for.
Bobby Z says
@michelle #8 post & @Zizza #9 post
I do believe that drinking and smoking that much is pretty bad, i know people here, Eastern NC, that drink that much or more, and smoke that much or more. One thing that gets me is when you see a 90 year old man who would kill you if you took those away from him, Addicted yes, dead…. No..
Russ says
Mitch, find yourself a good decaf. I kicked the caffeine habit months ago, occasionally having one cup when I really need to wake up. But to satisfy my “need” for coffee, I switched to decaf. I still “need” my coffee in the morning, but now just for the enjoyment of the warm brew. You kicked a lot in the last year, you can do this, too.
Mitch says
It is a shame that I started coffee again..after 6 months without it, I now feel incredibly ashamed of starting back. My health is top notch..I am a non smoker, have a sensible diet, workout daily, and have quit alcohol altogether 10 months ago…
No I cannot keep from drinkin upwards to 4 cups a day for the past 3 days…what can I do to kick it before it get’s outta hand?
Michael says
One pointer I could give is to get a mini coffeemaker, one that only makes 4 cups. That’ll typically limit you to two mugs at a time, rather than just have a giant pot that you’ll spend all day drinking.
Also, maybe use decaf as a substitute for times when you don’t need the caffeine and want to just drink mainly for taste/enjoyment, like with dessert or whatever.
Alleprincess says
I love coffee! My great-grandmother raised me from age 3 until she died at age 93 in 1998. I remember her drinking very strong brewed Folgers daily. When she tried to stop in her 70’s she had headaches but was not aware of the reason until my sister told her, after that she went back on and lived happily ever after. Again, I love the stuff but can go some time (1-3 days) without it. The drug feels good, doesn’t it? Its legal so no worries. Everything in moderation=good health so I try, TRY to limit myself to 2 cups per day.
Red Roaster says
I usually try to stop before 3p. After that I usually wake up the next day feeling exhausted and that I need more coffee. And remember to drink a lot of water, so you can drink more coffee. :-)
When you are young you don’t think of the problems that might occur later, but if you want to continue enjoying coffee until you are dead, start a limit. Just like anything.
Russ says
Caffeine free for four weeks! For 27 years I was a heavy coffee drinker. It took two weeks to get my system adjusted, headaches finally gone! But now, I sleep well, wake refreshed, have no lull in the morning, afternoon, or evening. I still drink about three cups of decaf a day, surely out of social habit, but I tell you, I don’t miss the caffeine. What a difference!
Clarissa Carolina says
haha just a government conspiracy. im drinking my 5th cup now and im fine, just scared im gonna lose my memory from a splenda over dose :)
b.crew says
I’m glad i only drink one cup a day…on weekdays!
Russ says
I’m beginning to think that coffee addiction is hereditary. My 16 year old daughter got hooked after the first cup. She’s been trying to go clean for two weeks and is having trouble even though her “addiction” was short lived. I’ve tried to reduce and have been only mildly successful. The idea of going caffeine free is not considerable.
Arild says
I normally pour down about 2 liter of coffee per day!
In weekends I tend to end up with making 2 full pots, about 2.5 liter!! I know it’s to much, but I’ve lived on the brewed stuff for about 24 years now!
I have my own cappuccino, nespresso ( pods ), normal brewer and press machines.. where at work days stay on the brewed, and weekends use almost all the others, depending on the time of the day :D
Russ says
I’ve been a coffee adict for 27 years. My highest consumtion was two pots, about 10 cups, per day. Now I’m at 2-3 cups. They’re actually mugs, big difference. I know, though, that all attempts at reducing were hard, and all attempts at eliminating coffee from my diet were impossible. I can drink a cup before bed and will sleep soundly.
Zizza says
@Mechille
This is only possible if your uncle is some super man (which I doubt).
someone doing what you said above should be dead in less than 1 week.
Mechille says
My step father drinks about 15-20 cups of coffe a day. He also drinks about 3 liters of water and atleast 1 pepsi. He smokes about a pack and a half of any type of nicotine that comes his way. I don’t think that is healthy. Is there anyone who agrees with me….If so please help me try to convince him that it is not healthy
Robert says
Two cups is just fine for me, but then you should see the size of the cup I use.
Jesse says
Bah, 2 cups barely wake me up in the morning. It takes at least 3 and usually a 4th before being what I call “awake”. Then of course, I typically switch to sodas until the afternoon, in which case I have a few more cups of coffee. In the evening, it’s usually another soda or two before bed.
I hate it when I have too much blood in my caffeiene system. :P
anon says
Maybe Laura’s lazy because her caffeine intake is too low. She doesn’t have the energy to properly capitalize her I’s much less look up some information on Wikipedia or even *gasp* an online or print journal! Here’s what happens to me when I drink too much coffee: I cry tears of espresso because my head starts to hurt when I’m coming down from the caffeine buzz. Then I lick up my tears, because I need the caffeine. Clearly, I have NOT had too much caffeine at this moment AT ALL.
Anna says
@Laura,
The simple and fast answer for you is go do your research yourself! You could spend sometime reading this article or other source stop being lazy
Laura says
Hello i was just wondering on a question of:
What happens when you drink too much coffee??
and i would just like an easy answer because im doin a project on coffee overload and yea please answer with an easy answer. grazie. Ciao
frank manito says
espeacially since my divorse, i tend to have between 2 – 4-5 cups of brewed coffee a day, is this too much?….
wattospace says
Gracias por el art?Âculo. Buen?Âsimo, se lo recomendaré a una amiga m?Âa que le encanta tanto como a mi el café.