Caffeine Intake from Beverages in German Children,Adolescents,and Adults

Abstract

Background:

Several beverage categories contain caffeine, either naturally (coffee, tea) or as additive (soft drinks, such as cola, or energy drinks). No knowledge exists about the population-based caffeine intake in Germany, and if its level exceeds thresholds.

Methods:

The caffeine content of coffee (n=146), tea (n=144), energy drinks (n=188), caffeinated soft drinks (n=231), and caffeinated alcopops (n=22) from the German market is taken from own chemical analyses. The intake of beverages for children and adolescents between 10–18, for 2004–2010, was estimated using data from the Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed (DONALD) study. Beverage consumption data for 14–80-year olds were taken from the representative second national nutrition survey. The caffeine intake was probabilistically estimated combining the analytical data with the dietary survey data.

Results:

The average and 95th percentile caffeine contents were 0.09 and 0.25 g/L (caffeinated alcopops), 0.10 and 0.15 g/L (cola), 0.29 and 0.37 g/L (energy drinks), 0.22 and 0.52 g/L (tea), and 0.25 and 0.50 g/L (coffee). The average caffeine intake in adolescents (DONALD study data; n=941) was 0.3 mg/kg body weight (bw)/day. In the subgroup of 348 caffeine consumers, the average intake was 0.9 mg/kg bw/day. The national nutrition survey data show that the caffeine intake increases till the age group 35–50. The average intake was 2.1 mg/kg bw/day predominantly from coffee and tea.

Conclusions:

On a population basis, caffeine intake appears not to be of concern. However, youth high-level consumers (less than 5% in our sample) could constantly exceed the maximum recommended intake.