IOM Releases Report on Caffeine in Food and Dietary Supplements

The report is intended to help the agency determine whether to implement caffeine regulations, while a Johns Hopkins University study found that caffeine has a positive effect on memory.

January 20, 2014

WASHINGTON – At the request of the FDA, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) held a workshop on August 5-6, 2013, to review the available science on safe levels of caffeine consumption in foods, beverages and dietary supplements.

Concern about caffeine’s effects has grown in recent years as more caffeinated products, such as energy drinks, have hit the market. Also of concern is whether such products are attractive to children and teens.

Food Safety News notes that Mike Taylor, FDA deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine, wrote in an FDA blog post that, “Caffeinated ‘energy’ drinks hit the shelves over a decade ago, and, more recently, we have seen caffeine added to non-traditional products like waffles and syrup to snack foods, candy, chewing gum, and a variety of beverages.”

The last time FDA looked at caffeine as a food additive was in the 1950s, which is when the agency set the limit for caffeine that could be added to soft drinks.

“The legal framework for substances like caffeine is complicated, but one thing is clear: Companies adding caffeine to foods and beverages have an obligation to ensure there is a sound scientific basis for concluding that their uses are safe,” Taylor wrote in August.

Food Safety News notes that the IOM’s document does not contain any recommendations or position statements from the agency, but does present the participants’ evaluation of certain populations at risk from caffeine exposure, as well as an exploration of safe levels of caffeine exposure.

Meanwhile, a new Johns Hopkins University study found that 200 milligrams of caffeine, about the amount of a strong cup of coffee, boosted memory 24 hours later.

Participants who were given 200-miligram caffeine tablets after studying a series of images were better at distinguishing these same images from similar ones when tested the next day. 

“We've always known that caffeine has cognitive-enhancing effects, but its particular effects on strengthening memories and making them resistant to forgetting has never been examined in detail in humans," said senior author Michael Yassa, an assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences at Johns Hopkins University.

The double-blind study was designed to reveal a deeper interaction between memory and caffeine. "If we used a standard recognition memory task without these tricky similar items, we would have found no effect of caffeine," said Yassa. "However, using these items requires the brain to make a more difficult discrimination — what we call pattern separation, which seems to be the process that is enhanced by caffeine in our case."

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