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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Energy drinks: how much canned caffeine are you consuming? (interactive map)

Energy drinks are one of the UK's fastest growing markets, here we're mapping your consumption rates
| photography Abdullahh's Photostream

From stressed students slurping through the early hours to adults looking for a midday kick of adrenaline, as a nation we are the world's second largest energy drinks market, only falling slightly behind the USA. But how many energy drinks are the Great British public consuming and why? Take our energy drinks survey and help us map caffeine consumption in the UK.

Energy drinks are one of the UK's fastest growing markets, here we're mapping your consumption rates | photography Abdullahh's Photostream

Caffeine appears in our everyday purchases, from our hot and cold drinks even our chocolatey snacks. But particularly our drinks where larger quantities of caffeine are present, regular energy drinks can carry anywhere between 90-160mg in a standard 500ml serving.

Although others stimulation products on the market have been noted to contain considerably more, such as 5-Hour Energy 2 fl.oz energy shot that conceals more than 138mg of caffeine.

According to last year's report by the British Soft Drink Association(BSDA), as a nation we downed more than 495 million litres of energy drinks. If you found that statistic hard to swallow, that figure works out at just over 7.9 litres per person in the UK a year.

Our habitual consumption of energy drinks is unsurprisingly making them the fastest growing sector of the soft drinks industry. From one trip to a nearby supermarket, we managed to count over ten varieties of energy drink, with brands Red Bull, Monster and Rockstar pioneering the energy drink revolution.

The BSDA's annual account attributes this surge in popularity and consumption to the fast paced nature of every day life in the UK and the need to remain alert. They said:

"People with longer working hours and more stressful lives continue to use energy drinks to help them get through their busy lives."  

But what are your reasons for you consuming energy drinks? Have your say in our survey and join fellow energy guzzlers on our interactive map below. Click on the pinpoints to read more.

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