Caffeine in Food: Lies, Damn Lies
Many manufacturers proudly state the amount of caffeine in their various goodies - particularly makers of mints and gums. We maintain a list of caffeinated foods and candies here.
However, all is not as it seems in the dark and mysterious world of caffeination.
Big props go to Jason of Vroom Foods - who has checked out the caffeine amounts of his various competitors and found them to be dubious at best. Vroom Foods make Foosh Energy Mints, and Buzz Bites - both of which pack a 100mg hit in each piece.
Check out the comparison chart here - backed up by independent laboratory tests no less.
Of particular note:
- Rocket Chocolate - Claimed: 150mg caffeine (see ThinkGeek) - Actual: 41.7mg
- Jolt Gum - Claimed: 2 pieces = 1 cup of coffee. Actual: 12.7mg per piece (which equates to a 25mg cup of coffee - yeah right!)
12 Comments
god damn it.
This is an outrage. Someone needs to call the caffeine police.
u called? …. this is kinda funny though, when i first started with caffeine, it was mostly with Jolt gum…woot for 12 mg… lol, that explains why it never kept me up for more than 10 minutes though…makes some reviews i’ve heard seem funny too, talkign about how jolt gum= big lift and madcroc= decaffeinated coffee lift :p
Well I think I just hit a brick wall at full force. WTF is with this chart? I think we’ve all be under the Caffeine Haze to notice what the chart is inferring. I, however, believe that any manufacturer of A Product is going to give B, C and D Product a bad rap. Maybe a more thorough study should be in order by an independent third-party lab.
This surprises me. Especially Rocket Chocolates, ThinkGeek said they were 150 and they’re really 40-something. That’s really far from the truth. Also, I almost laughed when I saw Bawls Mints’s caffeine content. By the time that little is in there, why even put it in anymore?
Re: Jolt gum claim of “2 pieces =1 cup of coffee”. If one piece is 12.7mg, then 2 pieces = 25.4mg. Since it was claimed that one cup of coffee is about 25mg, then the Jolt claim is correct. No???
@quahogwi: Since when does a cup of coffee have only 25mg of caffeine…? Even a cup of instant coffee has around 60mg caffeine. I couldn’t see anywhere on the Jolt site where they claimed a cup of coffee had 25mg.
@Karlie: Agreed. However in this case, Manufacturer A has produced the lab certificates from an INDEPENDENT THIRD PARTY lab. You can see one here.
Humm… Okay? I’m still leery, but that’s just me.
That is an interesting chart, though I do not think that there is a “gold standard” for coffee in regards to caffeine content. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I do think that the brew time, the type of beans, tempurature, and other such variables all contribute to the amount of caffeine you will get with the end product, leaving the claim open to speculation. Heck, Jolt could even compare itself to decaf coffee (which still contains traces of caffeine) and still hold truth to its claim.
Beware! The evils of smoking were known by tobacco companies for 45 years, and the information was kept from public view. With all the money in caffeine drinks and foods what makes you think that any damaging information will be brought to light? It is addictive, that should be warning enough! Beware!
Hey Dan, you know what else is addictive? OXYGEN! It should be banned. Nearly all young children are already hooked on it, and even a slightly reduced concentration of this substance has extremely damaging effects, including loss of motor control, unconsciousness, or even brain death! Beware the evils of Diatomic Oxygen!
Wow great chart. I’d love to see someone do the same for energy drinks.