Late May 2015 saw the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) publish its much anticipated scientific opinion on the safety of caffeine, in which it estimates acute and daily intakes that raise no safety concerns for the general healthy population.
EFSA’s scientific opinion of caffeine was broadly welcomed by the coffee industry, but unfortunately led to misreporting in a number of well-known European news outlets.
The opinion advises on the consumption of caffeine from all dietary sources in combination with physical exercise, and on the possible risks of consuming caffeine together with alcohol, with other substances found in so-called energy drinks, and with p-synephrine, a substance increasingly found in food supplements.
The assessment was finalised following extensive input from member states, consumer groups, industry and other interested parties. This included a two-month online consultation and a stakeholder meeting in Brussels. It is the first time that the risks from caffeine from all dietary sources have been assessed at EU level. A number of risk assessments have been carried out previously by national and other authoritative bodies around the world, which were thoroughly analysed by EFSA’s working group.
“Single doses of caffeine up to 200 mg (about 3 mg/kg bw for a 70kg adult) do not give rise to safety concerns,” said EFSA. “The same amount does not give rise to safety concerns when consumed < 2 hours prior to intense physical exercise under normal environmental conditions.
“Other constituents of ‘energy drinks’ at typical concentrations in such beverages (about 300–320, 4 000 and 2 400 mg/L of caffeine, taurine and d-glucurono-ã-lactone, respectively), as well as alcohol at doses up to about 0.65 g/kg bw, would not affect the safety of single doses of caffeine up to 200 mg. Habitual caffeine consumption up to 400 mg per day does not give rise to safety concerns for non-pregnant adults.”
The Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee (ISIC) said it welcomed EFSA’s scientific opinion on the safety of caffeine which, it said, “supports our own position on the science behind coffee, caffeine and health.” However, as ISIC and others pointed out, EFSA’s reference to 400mg of caffeine does not represent a recommended upper limit for caffeine consumption; it confirms that moderate caffeine consumption, of around 400 mg caffeine or the equivalent of up to five cups of coffee per day, can be enjoyed as part of a healthy balanced diet and an active lifestyle. Unfortunately, misreporting in the media suggested that 400mg per day was a safe limit.
In an email sent to C&CI, the British Coffee Association (BCA) noted that following publication of EFSA’s scientific opinion, several UK (and European) journalists had misinterpreted the 400mg safe daily caffeine use figure as a tolerable upper intake level or ‘daily limit,’ which has led to a number of misleading media reports.
Martin Wattam, Executive Director of the BCA, said: “Coffee consumption is an important part of our culture. The BCA welcomes EFSA’s conclusion that moderate daily caffeine intake up to 400mg – equivalent to 4 to 5 cups of coffee – doesn’t raise any safety concerns for adult drinkers and may actually have some health benefits. It should be underlined that the 400mg figure is a recommendation for safe daily caffeine use, not a tolerable upper limit. EFSA had been at pains to make clear that it was not possible to set an upper limit for caffeine.”
