EFSA to Hold Meeting on Caffeine Safety
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has announced a March 5, 2015, stakeholder meeting to discuss its draft opinion on the safety of caffeine. Authored by the agency’s Nutrition Unit, the draft opinion finds, among other things, that “single doses of caffeine up to 200 mg and daily intakes of up to 400 mg do not raise safety concerns for adults.” It also considers the following: (i) “caffeine consumption during pregnancy, and adverse health effects on the fetus”; (ii) “acute and long-term effects of caffeine consumption on the central nervous system (e.g. sleep, anxiety, behavioral changes) in adults, adolescents, and children”; (iii) “long-term adverse effects of caffeine consumption on the cardiovascular system in adults”; (iv) “acute effects of caffeine consumption in ‘energy drinks’ and risk of adverse health effects in adolescents and adults involving the cardiovascular and central nervous systems, particularly when consumed within short periods of time, at high doses, and in combination with alcohol and/or physical exercise”; (v) “acute effects of caffeine in combination with synephrine on the cardiovascular system.”
The meeting will address these topics with “interested parties from national and international risk assessment bodies, academia, consumer organizations, and food sector operations.” Additional details about the public consultation, which ends March 15, 2015, appear in Issue 551 of this Update.
Issue 555
