How Much Caffeine Per Day Is Safe? The Numbers, Explained

Educational content only. This article is not medical advice, and nothing here is intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Your own safe intake depends on your health, medications and sensitivity — when in doubt, ask your doctor.

Caffeine guidance is one of the rare areas where major food-safety bodies broadly agree. The numbers below come from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and they are worth knowing whether your caffeine comes from coffee, tea, energy drinks or gum.

The headline numbers

EFSA's scientific opinion on caffeine safety concluded that for healthy adults, single doses up to about 200mg (roughly 3 mg/kg body weight) do not raise safety concerns, and habitual consumption up to about 400mg per day does not raise safety concerns for the general healthy adult population. The FDA cites a similar figure — around 400mg a day — as an amount not generally associated with dangerous negative effects for healthy adults.

For pregnancy, the guidance drops sharply: EFSA advises that habitual intake up to 200mg per day does not raise safety concerns for the fetus, and many clinicians recommend staying at or below that — or avoiding caffeine — during pregnancy and breastfeeding. There is no established safe recreational dose for children and adolescents, which is why caffeine products, including caffeine gum, are not intended for anyone under 18.

What 400mg actually looks like

Caffeine content varies enormously by source, but typical figures help: a small brewed coffee is commonly 90–120mg (large café servings can be far more), black tea around 40–50mg, a standard cola about 30–40mg, a typical energy drink 80–160mg per can, and one piece of Avysera Energy & Focus gum contains 40mg of natural caffeine — clearly labelled, which is part of the appeal. Unlike café drinks, where the dose depends on the barista, the bean and the cup size, a measured format makes it much easier to know where you are against the 400mg guideline.

Everything counts toward the total

The most common mistake is treating each source in isolation. Two coffees, an afternoon tea, a pre-workout and a square of dark chocolate all stack. If you add caffeine gum to your routine, count it like you would count a coffee — 40mg per piece — and subtract something else if you are near your ceiling. Timing matters too: caffeine's average half-life is roughly five hours, so a 4pm dose still has about half its caffeine circulating at 9pm. If sleep is precious, front-load your intake earlier in the day.

Signs you have had too much

Restlessness, jitters, racing heart, anxiety, digestive upset and disrupted sleep are the classic signals of overdoing it. They are also dose-related — which is another argument for smaller, measured doses over guess-sized ones. If you regularly experience these at modest intakes, you may be a slow caffeine metaboliser, and less is simply better for you.

Who should avoid caffeine

Caffeine gum — like all caffeine products — is not appropriate for people under 18, those who are pregnant or breastfeeding (beyond medical guidance), and anyone whose doctor has advised limiting caffeine, for example due to heart rhythm conditions, anxiety disorders or certain medications.

For how caffeine gum fits into these numbers — absorption speed, timing and pairing with L-theanine — see our pillar guide, The Complete Guide to Caffeine Gum, and the full formula breakdown on our Ingredients & Science page.

References

1. EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies. Scientific Opinion on the safety of caffeine. EFSA Journal. 2015. EFSA Journal 2015;13(5):4102
2. US FDA. Spilling the Beans: How Much Caffeine is Too Much? fda.gov
3. Guest NS, et al. ISSN position stand: caffeine and exercise performance. 2021. PMC7777221