If you are one of those who takes a good coffee To wake up and stay active in the morning, you’re not alone. Millions of people rely on caffeine every day to stay alert and improve concentration. Despite all this, the OCU Today he comes to warn you about a serious problem that can be found in some supermarket ground coffees.
According to the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) up to 400 milligrams of caffeine per day appears to be safe for most healthy adults. That’s about the amount of caffeine in three or four cups of coffee.
How you react to caffeine may be determined in part by how much you’re used to drinking. People who don’t drink caffeine regularly tend to be more sensitive to its effects. Also, if you are susceptible to the effects of it, even small amounts can cause unwanted effects, such as anxiety and sleep problems.
However, be very careful because the OCU reports that some supermarket ground coffees contain so much caffeine per glass that it is necessary to restrict their consumption if you do not want to exceed the established limit.
In this new report from the OCU there is no mention of false labeling by the brands, this needs to be clarified. The problem lies, as mentioned before, in the estimated amount of caffeine included in each glass of coffee you drink.
For it, have put 25 ground coffees to the test of supermarket, among which there are 13 naturally roasted and 12 blended And, as you can see in the image above, all the major brands are included, so your favorite coffee is sure to be on the list.
“All the coffees analyzed contain caffeine (none are decaffeinated), but the proportion of caffeine is very different from one product to another”explains the OCU.
This is due to several factors that they list:
- Variety of coffee used (Arabica or Robusta). Robusta coffee is characterized by having a caffeine concentration almost double that of Arabica
- How ground is the coffee (the finer, the more its properties are extracted and, therefore, the higher the degree of caffeine)
- Degree of roasting of the ground coffee (the more roasted, the more caffeine it has)
- water filtration level
The point to take into account, as explained by the OCU, is that In the packaging they will not clarify how many grams of caffeine each glass has. For this, they have established a test, first with natural ground coffee, taking as a reference a tablespoon of 8 grams of coffee to evaluate the caffeine content. You can see the results above (first table).
“Most coffees contain between 176 and 184 mg of caffeine/cup, although there are several products that have a little less and a few a little more. The extremes are found in Fortaleza natural with 144 mg of caffeine/cup, and Oquendo natural with 224mg/cup”says the OCU.
On the other hand, among the brands of blended ground coffee analyzed, none exceeds 200 mg. The top is Marcilla, Toscaf and La Estrella.
Taking all this into account and going back to the recommended 400 milligrams of caffeine per day, according to EFSA, with some natural coffees from brands such as Oquendo, Bonka and Marcilla, two cups exceed the recommended amount. If we talk about the ground, two cups of Marcilla, Toscaf and La Estrella reach the limit.
If you are an inveterate coffee lover, seeing these results, perhaps you should consider changing the supermarket brand in the event that you use any of the above or reduce your daily caffeine consumption.