Caffeine is the most consumed psychoactive stimulant in the world. This substance is most commonly obtained from the coffee bean, but can also be found naturally in other foods which we will discuss below.
The primary purpose of caffeine consumption is to combat fatigue and drowsiness, but there are many additional uses. When taken orally, onset usually occurs within 45 to 60 minutes and lasts approximately 3 to 5 hours.
tea leaves
Black, green, white and many other teas are prepared from the leaves of the plant camellia sinensis. The leaves are harvested when the plant is about three years old. The different processes for treating the leaves determine what type of tea is produced.
Black and green teas are made from young tea leaves and shoots. For black tea, the leaves are left to oxidize for two to three days, while green tea does not oxidize at all.
Like green tea, white tea leaves do not oxidize. The difference between green and white tea it is the time when the leaves are harvested. The leaves and buds used to make white tea are harvested before the tea leaves are fully open and still covered in fine white hairs.
Though the amount of caffeine in each tea depends a lot on the type, of the soil where they have been cultivated, the rest time when making the tea, etc., normally the amount of caffeine in each tea is 14-61 mg.
Cocoa beans
Cocoa powder and chocolate contain numerous substances, among which there is a fairly high percentage of antioxidant molecules, mainly flavonoids, which are found more abundantly in the form of epicatechin.
All these substances have a large number of health benefits such as:
- neuroprotective effect
- Blood pressure reduction
- LDL cholesterol reduction
The cocoa bean, like any bean, is rich in fat and represents 50% or even more of the total weight. The next most important ingredients are protein and nitrogenous elements, including theobromine and caffeine, coming to contain for every 100 grams, between 60 and 400 milligrams.
Therefore, when we buy chocolate and there is an X percentage, we only have to make a small rule of 3 to calculate (approximately) the amount of caffeine.
Guarana
Guarana ( Paullinia cupana ) is a species of climbing plant native to the Amazon known as antioxidant, traditional medicinal and effective stimulant.
Caffeine is the main component of guarana, to which these beneficial properties are attributed that, depending on how the extract is prepared, it can be more than four times the amount found in coffee beans.
As such, herbal products such as guarana offer an attractive additive to manufacturers of many popular energy drink formulations.
kola nuts
Cola nut extract consists of an extract from the nuts (or seeds) of the pods of two species of the kola plant. In the food industry, kola nut extract used as a flavoring ingredient and is approved for food uses by the Council of Europe (CoE), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association (FEMA), and the Food and Drink Industries International Organization. Flavor (IOFI).
The main social and economic importance of the cola nut is that is a highly concentrated source of the central nervous system stimulant, caffeine, and a nut contains more caffeine than two large cups of American coffee.
This means that a single nut contains about 300 mg of caffeine. This is one of the reasons why it is found in the industry as a natural herbal preparation for the treatment of mental and physical fatigue.
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