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Is a Coke with dinner too much caffeine?

By GyroscopeUpdated November 15, 20266 sources

No. A 12 oz can of Coca-Cola has 34 mg of caffeine, about a third of an 8 oz coffee. With dinner at 7pm, it leaves about 22 mg in you when you fall asleep at 11pm, under our 40 mg line. The bigger cost in a regular Coke is the 39 g of sugar.

Cola feels like a soda, so people don’t think of it as caffeine, and then wonder if it’s the reason they slept badly. On the caffeine side, a can with dinner is one of the smaller things you can drink in the evening.

7pm

22 mg is still in you when you fall asleep at 11pm after a can of Coke at 7pm, about a can of Coke. On our lines that’s low.

Coke, Diet Coke and coffee

Diet Coke surprises people. It has more caffeine than regular Coke, 46 mg against 34. Both are still small next to a coffee, and both stay under our 40 mg line at 11pm.

The sugar is the real cost

The FDA’s Daily Value for added sugar is 50 g a day, based on the Dietary Guidelines’ advice to keep added sugar under 10% of your calories. One 12 oz can of Coke has 39 g of sugar, so it’s most of a day’s limit with one dinner. It’s like having dessert in a glass before your dessert. If you want the fizz and the taste with dinner, Diet Coke drops the sugar for 12 mg more caffeine, and sparkling water drops both. Where the real risks are has more on sugar and caffeine drinks.

For teens

Pediatricians suggest at most 100 mg of caffeine a day for ages 12 to 18, which they put at about two 12 oz cans of cola, and no energy drinks at all. A Coke with dinner fits. Three in a day doesn’t. How much caffeine can a teenager have?

If you sleep badly anyway

At 22 mg, the Coke is unlikely to be the main thing. Look at earlier drinks too. An 8 oz coffee at 3pm still leaves about 35 mg at 11pm, more than the Coke. The cutoff clock adds up your whole day, and how much caffeine is in a Coke? has the other sizes.