![]() Nor, starting next week, will a new version of Pepsi-Cola, even as ads remind customers that the taste will still be ''positively Pepsi.'' "And we know there are some indications that we may even get some benefit out of long-term caffeinated coffee drinking.Seven-Up says it ''never had it, never will.'' To show its commitment, the company is test marketing a new cola - which won't have it either. it's probably perfectly healthy," he says. "For people who are using caffeine moderately. Of course, if you're experiencing symptoms like jitters or sleeplessness related to too much caffeine, cut back. That's in line with what we've previously reported. So what's the takeaway? Drink in moderation.Ĭarpenter says three to four cups of coffee a day isn't dangerous over the long term. "But my impression is that a lot of the people who consumed this and had some funny experiences with caffeine probably didn't know what was going on," he adds. "So 240 milligrams per bottle." That's as much as three Red Bulls or 16 ounces of strong coffee, Carpenter notes in the book.Īfter Sunkist started getting complaints from consumers, it finally agreed with the Food and Drug Administration to voluntarily recall the 40,000 cases of supercaffeinated orange soda it had sent out. "These were sodas that should've had 41 milligrams of caffeine per 12-ounce serving, but they were blended with six times the labeled amount of caffeine," Carpenter says. In 2010, a batch of Sunkist orange soda was bottled with a botched caffeine content. Which brings us to the case of the supercharged Sunkist soda. Sometimes, he says, caffeine can lurk in unexpected places - like orange soda. Pepper, the only common denominator, besides carbonated water, is caffeine," he says. "If you look at, say, Coke, Diet Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Dr. Today, eight of the 10 top-selling soft drinks are caffeinated. "Despite the Starbucks on every corner this sort of conspicuous coffee culture that we have today, we're not drinking as much coffee as our grandparents did," Carpenter says.Īs coffee consumption has declined, our love of soft drinks has taken over. "It was sort of a rundown industrial park."Īnd our favorite caffeinated beverage? Not coffee, but soft drinks. After visiting one of these plants - the world's largest, in fact - Carpenter can only describe it as "sketchy." But most of the caffeine used in soft drinks is actually synthetically produced in Chinese pharmaceutical plants. Naturally extracted caffeine is burned out from heated-up coffee beans. Most of the caffeine in soft drinks comes from factories in China. "A tablespoon - about 10 grams - will kill you," he says, recounting the unfortunate story of a college student who went into a seizure and died after chasing down spoonfuls of caffeine with an energy drink. Over the years, it became acknowledged as a drug after people independently discovered its stimulating effect.īut, Carpenter says, people often underestimate just how powerful that drug is. In its essential form, caffeine is a bitter white powder derived from a natural insecticide found in some plants. These are the things you probably aren't thinking about as you wait in line at your local coffee shop. To help us break down the little-known things about caffeine, NPR's David Greene spoke with Murray Carpenter, author of Caffeinated: How Our Daily Habit Helps, Hurts and Hooks Us. It's become such a big part of our daily rituals that few actually give much thought to what it is that we're putting in our bodies. Many of us can barely make it through the morning without first downing a cup of hot coffee.
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