Are caffeine pills a bad substitution for coffee?

Hi Hayden!

Thank you for sharing your question about caffeine supplements vs. coffee! Where would we be without caffeine?!? I would definitely be crawling into the office if it weren't for caffeine! 

From the research that I did, it appears that caffeine pills are an okay substitution for coffee. Caffeine is used for so many different things such as treating migraine headaches to being used as a cream that when applied to the skin, can reduce redness and itching in dermatitis. 

It becomes dangerous when people take more than the recommended dosage. (Which is much easier to pop 2 pills than say drink 2 extra cups of coffee) Side effects of ingesting too much caffeine are irritability, dizziness, rapid heartbeat, and mental fogginess. Extra caffeine also increases anxiety and can land some people (those with high blood pressure or heart conditions) in the hospital. 

Nancy Clark, MS, RD, a Boston-area nutritionist and author of Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook notes, “a recommended target is about 1.5 mg of caffeine per pound of body weight,” says Clark, and that's the high end of sports nutrition guidelines. So if you weigh 150 pounds, that equates to 225 mg of caffeine—about 12 to 18 ounces of coffee. A pill that contains 200 mg of caffeine is close to that target but if you've already had coffee that day, or if you take a caffeine supplement before an afternoon workout, you might be awake all night, Clark warns. 

I included a link from the EmpowHER website about caffeine. 

https://www.empowher.com/media/reference/decreasing-your-caffeine-intake

Hayden, whether you choose to drink coffee or take a caffeine pill instead, just be sure not to exceed the recommended dosage. Also note that there is already caffeine in certain foods and over the counter medications. Be sure to know what you are eating, drinking and taking before adding a caffeine supplement.

Does this help?

Best,

Kristin