Did you know that…
A Starbuck’s Venti has 340-475mg?
A large Dunkin Donuts coffee has 300mg of caffeine?
A large McDonald’s coffee has 145mg of caffeine?
A Monster has 89mg and a Redbull has 111mg?
A 12oz Coke has 34mg and Diet Coke has 46mg of caffeine?
And, did you know that caffeine is the most widely used stimulant in the world? The average amount of caffeine ingestion via coffee is a total of 2 cups a day. Excessive caffeine can lead to headaches, increased blood pressure, and elevated mood levels. Determining how much is too much caffeine varies from person to person. If an individual is a typical coffee drinker, 3 cups of coffee will not affect them as much as an individual who rarely drinks coffee and has 3 cups. It is important to listen to your body and also remember that it takes 1-2 hours for the caffeine to peak but it takes four to six hours for the body to eliminate half of the previously ingested caffeine.
So how does caffeine affect exercise? Caffeine is a very commonly used stimulant during exercise. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, it can be beneficial for short-term exercise performance. Short-term exercise can be defined as 5 minutes at 90 to 100 percent of maximal oxygen uptake. Caffeine can be beneficial for this kind of exercise because it is including both aerobic and anaerobic energy, although exceeding the limit of caffeine can be harmful to exercise because it can affect your cardiovascular system along with other major parts of this body during exercises.
Despite some bad press about how caffeine can affect you, the good news is that caffeine is associated with lowering the odds of developing colorectal cancer by 26% according to findings in a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention. With colorectal cancer being the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, this is great news for caffeine users. As regular screening is the key to prevention of colon cancer, pour yourself a cup of coffee and take a minute to fill out our Colon Cancer Aware Risk Assessment. Follow up with your doctor if you have any concerns.