Concealed caffeine: how much is in your food and drink? (infographic)

Weighing in: we're analysing the caffeine content in our everyday purchases
| photography Joshua Saunders

If caffeine is a drug then we are an ever expanding world of drug addicts. It's in our teas, coffees, energy drinks even small amounts are sneaked into some of our chocolate bars. Some students are even brewing their own caffeinated beers. But how much caffeine is actually contained within our day to day purchases? But first feast your eyes upon some statistics that might leave a sour taste in your throat...

Global caffeine consumption The Department of Health and the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (2011, UK) The National Institute of Nutrition (2012, India)

Experts are yet to specify a precise figure for the maximum milligrams of caffeine we should consume in one day. However, Dr Michael Duncan from Coventry University who has experimented with caffeine and the way it affects the central nervous system over several years, outlined several measurements from his research.

"When you give someone 9 milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of body weight in one go they do tend to have some adverse reactions. Once you go above that they will just vomit, you get nauseous and vomit and you can also get some gastrointestinal distress." 

"But that's a lot of caffeine. You're talking about 8, 9 ,10 coffees in one go so it's a lot for the body to handle in one instance," he added.

From tests, he found that once the body takes between six and seven mg of caffeine per kg of body weight: "you do get a tremor, effectively the central nervous system is activated when you ingest caffeine."

"You get a lot of additional muscle contraction which cause tremors throughout the body or a change in heart rate because it's stimulating the body," he added.

With this in mind check out our findings below to find out if your daily diet and energy levels are being topped up by a caffeinated kick.

You can register your energy drink intake on our caffeine consumption in the UK on our interactive map.


 

Caffeine levels within food and drink Data sourced from: http://www.thehersheycompany.com/nutrition-and-wellness/chocolate-101/caffeine.aspx http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/health/caffeine-counter.html http://globalassets.starbucks.com/assets/7cd1d989cd0c4ddba75b22d53f7af8bc.pdf http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/treatments/healthy_living/nutrition/healthy_caff.shtml

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