What is 200 mg of caffeine will look like?

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Without the black stuff, today's rush-rush-rush workforce would never roll out of bed in the morning. According to E-Imports, a provider of business solutions for the coffee industry, 150 million Americans (50% of the population) drink some sort of coffee, such as espresso, cappuccino, latte or iced coffee. Among coffee drinkers, the average consumption is 3.1 cups per day.

Why coffee? It's all about caffeine-the metaphorical shot in the arm that keeps us partying at 2AM when we only slept for three hours the night before. But caffeine comes with a price, and not just the inflated cost of Starbuck ' s latest coffee monstrosity.

The Mayo Clinic insomnia, irritability, lists nervousness and anxiety, as potential side effects of caffeine; other health risks, such as cancer and heart disease, are the subject of debate. But the American Heart Association recommends limiting coffee (i.e. caffeine) consumption to 1 to 2 cups per day; calling that "moderate" coffee drinking.

So how much caffeine is in 1 to 2 cups of coffee? One average, your basic cup of coffee contains roughly 100mg of caffeine. Of course a "cup" of coffee can vary in size, depending on where you get it; the type of roast also effects caffeine content. But for our purposes, let's go with 100mg.

Now if a maximum of 200mg of caffeine per day is "okay," then what does that look like in our daily lives, specifically what is the caffeine content of some of our favorite foods and beverages. Well, let's take a look:

Starbucks Short Coffee (8oz cup): 1.1 Dunkin Donuts Coffee cups ' (16oz cup): 1.4 cupsHershey ' s Milk Chocolate Bar: 17.1 barsCoca-Cola (12 oz can): 5.8 cansDiet Coke (12oz can): 4.4 cans5 Hour Energy (2oz bottle): 1.4 bottlesReese ' s Would Butter Cups: 50 cupsMountain Dew (12oz can): 3.6 cansPepsi-Cola (12oz can): 5.3 cansRed Bull (8.3oz can): 2.5 cansMonster Energy Drink (16oz can): 1.3 cans Rockstar (16oz can): 1.25 Americans Breyer's Coffee Ice Cream (8oz cup): 6.7 cupsHaagen-Dazs Coffee Ice Cream (8oz cup): 4.2: 10 cupsGU Energy Gel packets Dannon Coffee Yogurt (6oz tub): 5.56 tubsSnapple Tea (16oz bottle): 4.8 bottlesSlim-Fast Cappuccino Delight Shake (12oz can): 5.1 cansIced Tea (8oz cup): 4-23. cupsBrewed Tea (8oz cup): 4-23. cupsSobe Green Tea (20oz bottle): 5.6 cupsRevive Energy Mints: 1.96 mints

Figures are approximates. Data source: the Energy Fiend.

Clearly, the caffeine bubbling under our noses can add up quickly, but apparently it's not enough to quell America's appetite for it. In the U.S., the coffee market is nearly $ 18 billion per year, and growing.

The U.S. imports $ 4 billions worth of coffee each year. Americans consume 400 million cups of coffee every day, making us the leading coffee consumers in the world; so we're probably the biggest caffeine addicts too.

Image credit: South Park Studios

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