Caffeine might be best known for powering your morning coffee, but it’s found in far more places than most people realize. In this segment, Dr. Logan Pendergrast, Ph.D., breaks down where caffeine naturally occurs, from coffee beans and tea leaves to cocoa pods, and how it’s also added to energy drinks, sodas, and even common medications. He highlights just how concentrated some of these sources can be, setting the foundation for understanding why caffeine’s effects vary so much across different products.
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So, what is caffeine and where is it
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found? Well, caffeine is a naturally
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occurring stimulant and it's found in
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dozens of plants including, of course,
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coffee beans, tea leaves, and even cocoa
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pods, which is the plant source of cocoa
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beans, which is what we use to make
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chocolate. And it it's also synthesized.
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Caffeine is also synthesized chemically
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and added to various drinks such as of
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course energy drinks but also sodas and
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even medications such as etin and noods.
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And uh an interesting fact here is that
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for energy drinks in particular these
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drinks can contain up to about 500 mg of
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caffeine per serving which is equivalent
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to about 5 cups of coffee. So it's the
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case that these chemically synthesized
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forms of caffeine can be added in large
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doses to drinks like energy drinks and
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these can even exceed the amount that
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would be in a liquid volume that's equal
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in coffee. So now
