How Much Caffeine Is Good For The Body Everyday?

Caffeine, a naturally occurring stimulant found in a variety of plants including coffee beans and tea leaves, can also be added to foods, beverages or medicine. Caffeine serves no nutritive value to your diet, and it can be avoided altogether, yet it is the most widely used legal stimulant drug in the world. As a central nervous system stimulant, caffeine alters your bodily processes. Daily low dose caffeine use has benefits, but use caffeinated products with caution because the substance can also have uncomfortable side effects.

Moderate Daily Intake

Safe, moderate caffeine consumption of 300 mg or less per day is not harmful in most healthy adults, notes the Mayo Clinic. This equates to no more than four cups of standard coffee at 8 oz. per serving, seven cups of tea at 5 oz. per serving, or four 12-oz. servings of caffeinated soda. Specialty coffee and energy drinks sold in stores or cafes often contain the majority if not more of your daily recommended caffeine dose in one serving. If you are pregnant, the American Pregnancy Association notes that although 200 mg of caffeine per day may not be harmful, you should use caution and discuss intake with your physician.

Stimulating Effects

Caffeine absorbs into your body in as little as 15 minutes from the time you ingest it. Once swallowed, it quickly passes into your stomach activating and increasing the release of acidic juices before moving into the small intestine. From the small intestine, caffeine passes from the intestinal lining and hitches a ride through your bloodstream traveling up to similar chemical receptors in your brain. The receptors impacted by caffeine include adenosine and dopamine, which normally activate wakefulness, motivation and concentration. Caffeine essentially takes over the job of your natural brain receptors, and its effects can last from 4 to 6 hours.

Benefits of Daily Caffeine

A morning cup of coffee perks you up, inspires concentration and focus and can give you that extra boost needed to take on the day. According to Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., at the Mayo Clinic, caffeine may contribute to weight loss efforts because it reduces appetite, stimulates heat and energy for calorie burning, or thermogenesis, and acts as a diuretic to increase urination; however, no definitive research exists to evidence that daily caffeine use conclusively leads to weight loss. Two cups of coffee a day may lower stroke risk in nonsmoking women, notes the American Heart Association, because coffee contains anti-oxidants that improve blood vessel function. But reduced stroke risk depends on additional lifestyle factors, and research is ongoing.

Consequences of Daily Caffeine

The FDA categorizes caffeine as a drug and food additive. Caffeine added to prescription or over-the-counter medications helps relieve headaches, and fatigue but excess consumption, even in small amounts, from food or medicine has consequences. You can become addicted to the effects of caffeine and over time become tolerant or require more to achieve the stimulating effects. Withdrawal from caffeine may produce shaking, insomnia, uneven heart rhythm, dizziness, headache and dehydration. The impact of caffeine on your body may vary from others, but exceeding 500 mg doses per day increases your risk of unpleasant effects.