Can you overdose on caffeine?

Caffeine overdose is very rare, but it is often related to energy drinks or caffeine supplements that can contain very high levels of this stimulant.

Children and adolescents have a lower tolerance for caffeine and a higher risk of overdose than other people.

In this article, we look at official advice on how much caffeine people can consume, sources of caffeine, and treatment and prevention of an overdose.

We also examine what caffeine is, as well as the risk factors, likelihood, and symptoms of a caffeine overdose.

What is caffeine?

Caffeine occurs naturally in certain plants, nuts, and seeds and manufacturers add it to some foods and drinks.

It has a range of effects on the body, from suppressing appetite to making a person feel more awake.

Caffeine is a stimulant, meaning that it increases some of the body's processes. For example, messages moving between the brain and body can travel faster. This is one reason why a person may feel more alert or focused after consuming caffeine.

Heart rate and breathing may also speed up after someone consumes caffeine. Most of the effects on the body are short term and do not cause lasting harm.

However, consuming a large amount of caffeine can have a harmful effect on the body.

How likely is a caffeine overdose?

A person might find consuming too much caffeine and experiencing side effects to be easy. However, a life-threatening overdose is rare, and a caffeine overdose as a cause of death even rarer.

In a 2018 review of scientific journal articles, researchers identified 92 reported deaths from caffeine overdose. This review included all journals since online databases began. The researchers believe that around one-third of these deaths are likely to be suicide.

In general, caffeine will begin to affect the body if there are more than 15 milligrams per liter (mg/L) in the blood. A concentration of 80 to 100 mg/L can be fatal.

Caffeine overdose is most likely to result from taking a dietary supplement or caffeine tablets rather than from drinking coffee, especially when people combine these products with energy drinks, sodas, or coffee. Supplements increase the risk due to having higher levels of caffeine than foods and drinks.

Unlike drinking coffee, or even taking supplements containing caffeine, using purified caffeine powder is highly dangerous and much more likely to cause an overdose.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns that a teaspoon of powdered caffeine can be equivalent to 28 cups of coffee. It stresses that pure and highly concentrated caffeine products can have serious health consequences.

The cause of death from caffeine overdose is typically ventricular fibrillation. This condition happens when the lower chambers of the heart vibrate rather than contracting regularly. Ventricular fibrillation stops the heart from beating normally and causes cardiac arrest.

 Source: Medical News Today