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EFSA reports on caffeine safety

Single doses of caffeine up to 200mg and daily intakes of up to 400mg do not raise safety concerns for adults in Europe. These are two of the provisional findings of EFSA’s Scientific Opinion on the safety of caffeine from all sources. EFSA is now seeking comments and feedback on the draft document through a […]

Single doses of caffeine up to 200mg and daily intakes of up to 400mg do not raise safety concerns for adults in Europe. These are two of the provisional findings of EFSA’s Scientific Opinion on the safety of caffeine from all sources. EFSA is now seeking comments and feedback on the draft document through a public consultation which is open until 15 March 2015.

EFSA is also planning to hold a stakeholder meeting in the first week of March 2015 to explain and discuss the draft opinion with interested parties. Details of the meeting will be announced shortly on EFSA’s website.

Other key provisional conclusions include:

• Single doses of caffeine up to 200mg do not raise safety concerns for adults (18-65 years) also when consumed less than two hours before intense exercise.
• It is unlikely that caffeine interacts adversely with other constituents of “energy drinks” – such as taurine and D-glucurono-γ-lactone – or alcohol.
• For pregnant women, caffeine intakes of up to 200mg a day do not raise safety concerns for the foetus.
• For children (3-10 years) and adolescents (10-18 years), daily intakes of 3mg per kg of body weight are considered safe.
• Single doses of 100mg may increase sleep latency (the amount of time it takes to fall asleep) and shorten sleeping time in some adults.