Why isn’t the amount of caffeine in a food product listed in the “Nutrition Facts” table?
Because caffeine isn’t a nutrient? I don’t think there’s a reccomended daily allowance of caffiene.
Yup and yup. If it is added, it will be in the ingredient statement, if it is naturally occuring you’re on your own.
Carbohydrates and proteins are naturally occuring but they are listed.
I don’t understand why something as potent as caffeine got off the list. My morning Cheerios tell me how much riboflavin I’m consuming, but my cola’s stimulant doesn’t rate. And I can’t remember the last time I was whacked out of my gourd on riboflavin.
The point of the nutrition facts labels is not to list all the active ingredients and their potential pharmacological effects on you. Its purpose is to simply list the nutritional information, that is, those things your body requires, and how much of each is in the given product as well as how much it is recommended one consume for a given caloric intake. Last time I checked, caffeine was not a nutritional requirement.
Not in the ingredients list they’re not.
By definition, nutrients are materials that provide nutrition. The main categories of these are fats, carbohydrates, and protein. Minerals and vitamins are often considered to be nutrients and are sometimes listed in labels under nutrients. They are not nutrients, per se, since they do not provide us with energy, but they do facilitate the efficient use of nutrients and other bodily functions, so they are considered as nutrients under some circumstances. Caffeine does neither.
Because the original Nutrition Facts Label concept was designed in the 1940’s. When WWII got going, the guv’ment started drafting the boys, many of them weren’t healthy enough for service because they had not had sufficient nutrition, having been raised during the Depression when food was scarce and diets were vastly less varied than they are today. The nutrition information was designed so that you could figure out that you weren’t getting enough niacin and therefore were at risk for developing Pellagra.
Bottom line, you can survive quite well with or without caffeine, but if you try to live without anything listed on the nutrition facts label, you wouldn’t make it very far.
Also, the nice folks at General Mills add riboflavin to your Cheerios…that started in WWII too.
(looks at my coffemaker with loving eyes)
Speak for yourself, buddy!
That was the generic “you”
I don’t trust people who don’t have a long-term relationship with caffinated beverages and the machines that make them.
I still contend that life without caffiene is, in theory, possible.
I’ve been off 2-3gram a day habit for a month. I’m down to a soda or two a day (100mg or so).
I’m still twitching, tired, and I crave coffee more than I crave air. I want it. I want it now. I test myself by sitting in a coffee shop, it’s torture. You call this life? YOU CALL THIS LIFE!?
My point exactly… If caffeine were listed on food products it would be easier for me to maximize my intake. And those among us who shun this nector of busywork could more ably avoid it.
I’m living proof that it is, in fact (not just theory), possible. I’ve been “off” caffeine for about 10 years, after being a 3±cola-a-day person.
You scare me. I’ll just choose to believe that you are one of those people who lives a fictional life on the internet.
Heh. I’m watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy and drinking my strong, black coffee.
My Preccciousss…
Ahem.