The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a statement Tuesday about the potential health risks of consuming powdered caffeine, saying that there is a thin line between a safe dose and a toxic dose of the product.
A teaspoon of powdered caffeine, which is marketed as a supplement, is equivalent to the amount of caffeine in 28 cups of coffee. Even a slight overdose of this pure caffeine can pose dangers to health.
"Pure caffeine is a powerful stimulant and very small amounts may cause accidental overdose," The FDA said in an advisory.
The effect of powdered caffeine on health is not like that of coffee. While drinking too much coffee may result in tremors and nervousness, consuming powdered caffeine may result in a very fast or erratic heartbeat, diarrhea, stupor, vomiting, seizures, disorientation and even death. Two deaths have been previously linked to powdered caffeine.
The FDA also warned that labels specifying the required dose in powdered caffeine products are difficult to follow accurately, posing danger to the consumers. Those with pre-existing heart conditions face the greatest risk.
"Safe quantities of these products can be nearly impossible to measure accurately with common kitchen measuring tools. Volume measures, such as teaspoons, are not precise enough to calculate how many milligrams of caffeine are in the serving size," the FDA said in the statement.
In line with the health warning, the agency wrote warning letters to five powdered caffeine manufacturers because the product gives an "unreasonable risk of illness or injury to consumers." The manufacturers were given 15 days to inform the agency on how they will make their powdered caffeine products comply with the law.
Bridge City said it stopped selling powdered caffeine after receiving the FDA's letter. Hard Eight Nutrition is going to stop selling the product, but will continue to sell it to manufacturers that use powdered caffeine as an ingredient. Kreativ Health will also discontinue selling the product. PureBulk is preparing a response to FDA's letter while Smartpowders has not commented on the issue, according to Associated Press.
