There’s a lot of buzz online about quitting, or limiting, caffeine, a puzzling revelation for a society obsessed with coffee. Two billion cups of coffee power minds and bodies worldwide every day, and 62% of Americans consume just over three cups to get through the workday. Most of the available correlative research points to coffee not only not being bad for you, but perhaps being beneficial.
And yet, thousands of outspoken health nuts are ditching the beans to see how it affects everything from their sleep to energy levels throughout the day— and they’re urging others to do the same. There’s a desire for a more “natural” approach, which means that coffee is no longer the only game in town.
In his international bestseller Why We Sleep, Dr. Matthew Walker, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at UC Berkeley, describes caffeine as a “significant” disruptor of sleep and the body’s 24-hour circadian rhythm. A cursory search on TikTok for a “caffeine-free” lifestyle churns out hundreds of videos of folks touting the benefits of skipping the morning brew. Does that mean you should quit?
Not exactly. At least for coffee, the data skews the opposite direction. It’s worth mentioning that almost all of the research done on caffeine and its effects focuses on coffee rather than other caffeine sources, and not only have certain negative health effects of coffee been disproven in recent years, but a laundry list of benefits has been attributed to daily java consumption.
Pro-Java
According to Dr. Brad Analwalt, an endocrinologist and men’s health specialist at the University of Washington Medical School, coffee drinkers are more likely to be rich, grow thick hair longer, be more active, and may even live longer than coffee teetotalers.
“[Coffee] is associated with lower risks of a variety of cancers including colorectal cancer and skin cancers,” said Anawalt.
Plenty of studies purport to show that coffee boosts cognitive and athletic performance, may stave off severe disease, and even prevents androgenetic alopecia, the most common type of hair loss in men.
Anawalt also mentioned that the long-held belief within the medical community (and elsewhere) that coffee increases your risk of high blood pressure and arrhythmias is false. In fact, coffee drinkers had lower rates of rapid heart rates.
However, coffee is everywhere and it’s drunk by many people every day. This makes it hard to attribute the results of these studies to coffee, precisely, since it’s nearly impossible to pinpoint it as the sole variable. Anawalt also poked confirmation bias within the chronically sleep-deprived medical community.
“The people who do the studies are PhDs, MDs, and so forth. They’re really likely to drink coffee. You always wonder whether there are biases that factor into this,” said Anawalt, chuckling.
Since all of the data on caffeine centers on coffee, there’s very little clinical guidance on tea, energy drinks, or caffeinated sports drinks.
How Much Coffee Is Healthy?
According to the FDA, otherwise healthy adults can consume up to 400 milligrams of caffeine per day, without experiencing adverse health effects. That’s about four cups of coffee or a little over a single can of an energy drink.
While the majority of Americans fall beneath that threshold, Dr. Justin Houman, a men’s health specialist in Los Angeles shared that a significant number of his patients say that they drink more than that.
A 2019 study of nearly 2,000 college-aged freshmen showed that men metabolize caffeine at a faster pace than women, and therefore may experience fewer uncomfortable physical effects.
According to Anawalt, though, the long-term health effects can still occur even if someone doesn’t get a racing heart rate after a venti cold brew.
“If you’re always drinking five or more cups per day the current evidence suggests that that’s probably not good for your health and more substantively, if there is any benefit to caffeinated beverages, you’re losing it when you go five or more per day,” said Anawalt.
Coffee vs. Energy Drinks
It’s worth remembering, though, that data around coffee does not extrapolate to all caffeinated consumables. Energy drinks are classified as either “conventional beverages” or “liquid supplements” by the FDA. This means the FDA equates them with sports drinks and does not regulate the amount of caffeine. It’s up to manufacturers to maintain consistent levels across cases.
One can of Bang Energy, RedBull for millennials who miss Hot Topic’s heyday, contains 350 milligrams of caffeine per can. 5-Hour Energy contains 200 milligrams. But these labels may not be trustworthy.
“[Energy drink brands] are often either not reporting or they’re inaccurately reporting the amount of caffeine in them,” said Anawalt.
A 2023 study of 16 energy drink brands found that only 10 of them were within 20% of the caffeine dosage noted on the label. Five of them were beyond 20% of the amount on the label, and one clocked in at 70% below the marked amount.
So, is it actually better to live life without caffeine? No, there’s no conclusive data to support that claim. Coffee in low-moderate amounts hasn’t proven disastrous healthwise, and there’s some anecdotal evidence that it’s beneficial. Energy drinks, however, have not been studied to nearly the same caliber, and exist in a gray area.
That laundry list of health benefits from caffeine comes from coffee, and it’s not a 1-1 equivalent with energy drinks or sugary sodas.
Anawalt cautioned anyone who’s pushing their daily caffeine limit with an energy drink, or chugging something before a late-night workout.
“Sports drinks, they’re trying to create a physical response in you to make you think you’re getting something, and they will over-spike their drinks with caffeine.”
