Daily Caffeine Intake Calculator

1. Pick who it is for. Choose healthy adult, pregnant or breastfeeding, or child or teen. For a child or teen, add body weight.
2. Add your drinks. Enter how many espresso shots, cups of coffee or tea, cans of cola and energy drinks you have in a day. Add other caffeine in milligrams if you know it.
3. Read the total. The tool shows your milligrams, the published limit for your group and how far under or over you are.

A daily caffeine limit is the amount health bodies say is not generally linked to harm. For most adults, the FDA has cited 400 milligrams a day, about two to three 12-fluid-ounce cups of coffee. EFSA also finds intakes up to 400 mg a day, spread through the day, do not raise safety concerns for healthy adults other than pregnant women.

A limit is not a target, and it says nothing about sleep. Caffeine late in the day can cost sleep well below the limit; to see how much is left at bedtime, use the caffeine impact on sleep calculator.

It multiplies each drink by a typical amount, adds them to your total and divides the total by the limit for your group.

These are the approximate EFSA guideline amounts. Real drinks vary widely: the FDA lists 113 to 247 mg for a 12-ounce brewed coffee and 41 to 246 mg for an energy drink. Use the other field for anything you can read off a label.

Against the 400 mg adult limit, 230 mg is 58%, with 170 mg left. For a pregnant woman the limit is 200 mg a day, so the same day is 115% of it, 30 mg over.

EFSA also says single doses up to 200 mg (about 3 mg per kg) do not raise safety concerns for adults, and that 100 mg in one go may affect sleep when taken close to bedtime.

Timing

The same total costs more sleep when taken in the afternoon or evening.

Body Weight

The child and teen limit scales with weight, and EFSA shows adult limits in mg per kg too.

Drink Size And Brand

Coffee-shop and energy drinks often hold more than the typical amounts. Check the label.

Medicines And Conditions

Ask a doctor or pharmacist if you take medicines or have a heart or anxiety condition.

• Heavy coffee drinkers who have lost count of the cups.
• Energy drink users adding cans to coffee.
• People who are pregnant or breastfeeding checking against the lower limit.
• Parents of teens who drink cola or energy drinks.

If caffeine may be hurting your sleep, the how much sleep you need guide shows what to aim for, and the sleep schedule reset calculator sets a last-caffeine time for each day of a new schedule.

Counting Only Coffee

Tea, cola, energy drinks, chocolate and tablets all add caffeine.

Assuming Every Cup Is The Same

A large takeaway coffee can hold several times the amount in a small cup.

Treating The Limit As Safe At Any Hour

The limit is a daily total. It does not protect your sleep.

Taking Pure Caffeine Products Lightly

The FDA warns that pure and highly concentrated caffeine products are dangerous, with toxic effects such as seizures seen at around 1,200 mg taken quickly.

The arithmetic is exact. The amounts per drink are approximate and your drinks may differ, so treat the total as an estimate.

For most healthy adults, the FDA cites 400 mg a day as an amount not generally associated with negative effects. EFSA gives the same figure.

The FDA says 400 mg is about two to three 12-fluid-ounce cups of coffee. With EFSA’s 200 ml filter cup at 90 mg, it is a little over four cups.

EFSA says intakes from all sources up to 200 mg per day do not raise safety concerns for the foetus. Ask your doctor or midwife for advice for your own pregnancy.

EFSA proposes 3 mg per kg of body weight per day for children and adolescents, so a 50 kg teen has about 150 mg.

EFSA uses about 80 mg for a 250 ml can. The FDA lists 41 to 246 mg per 12 ounces, so check the label.

Usually, yes. EFSA uses about 50 mg for a cup of black tea and 90 mg for a cup of filter coffee.

It can. EFSA says single doses of 100 mg may affect sleep duration and patterns in some adults, particularly close to bedtime.

A large takeaway coffee may hold more than the typical amount. Use the other field with the label amount if you have it.

No. It compares your total with published guidance. Ask a doctor if you are pregnant, have a heart condition or take medicines.

• FDA: Spilling the Beans: How Much Caffeine Is Too Much? (400 mg a day for most adults; drink ranges; pure caffeine products dangerous)
• EFSA: Caffeine (400 mg adults; 200 mg pregnant or lactating; 3 mg per kg children; single doses; drink amounts)
• Drake et al. Caffeine effects on sleep taken 0, 3, or 6 hours before going to bed (JCSM, 2013) (caffeine up to 6 hours before bed disturbed sleep, so a daily total does not protect sleep)