Some sensitive individuals may also experience toxicity and lethality at doses not normally associated with such outcomes. While caffeine is generally thought to be safe in moderate amounts (i.e., ≤ 400 mg per day) in healthy adults, it is clearly not an innocuous compound and can cause significant toxicity and even lethality (i.e., most commonly via myocardial infarction or arrhythmia) if sufficient quantities are consumed. Coffee purchased from the grocery store and tea remain the largest contributors to caffeine intake in the United States overall, although the contribution from energy drinks, while still a relatively minor contributor overall has increased.
The average daily consumption of caffeine varies depending upon the survey, years conducted and sources considered but has most recently (i.e., 2011–2012) been reported as 142 mg per day for adults and children in the United States, a decrease from previous years (e.g., average consumption of 175 mg/day in 1999–2000) largely attributed to a reduction in soda consumption. It is estimated, that caffeine is being consumed by more than 80% of the world’s and up to 89% of the United States population. Nowadays, caffeine is the most widely consumed psychostimulant in the world. Since then, the latest iteration of caffeinated beverages that have become popular are the so-called “energy drinks”, which entered the market in the late 20th century and have since grown in popularity, , ]. Pepper, Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola becoming extremely popular during the second half of the 20th century. Tea and coffee have since served as the major beverage sources of caffeine but in the late 1800’s caffeinated soda entered the marketplace in the branded products, Dr. In the 17th century, once shipped from overseas the consumption of coffee in Europe became more common and consequently spread to the colonies in North America. By the 14th century the roasting of coffee beans had been discovered and by the 15th and 16th centuries, knowledge of its stimulating effect had apparently led to widespread consumption and commercialization in coffee houses in Arabia and Constantinople. However, caffeine would not be isolated as the active constituent of coffee’s stimulating effects until 1819 followed by its first total synthesis in 1895. In reality the first use of coffee infusions with boiling water appears around 1000 CE.
Consequently, the shepherd began consuming them and experienced what is now in modern times recognized as the central nervous system (CNS) stimulation from caffeine in the berries. Ĭoffee’s introduction is similarly linked with mythology and ambiguity with legend indicating the first apparent consumption in either Ethiopia or the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula in the 9th century by a shepherd who deduced that the wild coffee berries his goats consumed, were responsible for their display of increased energy. Prior to this recent discovery the first confirmed historical consumption of tea was 750 CE. Although this account may in fact be mythological, recent evidence demonstrates tea consumption in China as far back as 2,100 years ago during the Western Han Dynasty which ruled from 207 BCE to 9 BCE. It has been consumed for thousands of years by humans with stories indicating the earliest consumption of boiled tea in China in the year 2737 BCE by the emperor Shen Nung, supposedly after tea leaves fell or blew into his boiling water. 1. Introduction with a brief history of caffeine consumptionĬaffeine (1,3,7-trimethylxanthine) is a psychostimulant purine-like alkaloid, which is found naturally in coffee, tea, cacao beans (source for chocolate and cocoa) guarana, mate, and kola nuts, though it has been identified in more than 60 plant species.
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