There are some products that are advertised on the packaging to be 99.9% caffeine free . Such a drink, for example, would be adequate to drink before going to sleep, because it would not disturb our sleep. Or if we feel jet lag. Or we simply suffer from jet lag. However, things are not what they seem.
A drink that is free of caffeine in such a percentage is, for all practical purposes, the same as a single caffeinated coffee.
Coffee is not caffeine
According to the CSPI (Center for Science in the Public Interest), an American non-profit organization that monitors health, there are 415 milligrams of caffeine in a 600-milliliter cup of Starbucks coffee, which corresponds to 21 milligrams of They coffee for 30 milliliters .
If 30 milliliters of water have a mass of about 28 grams, a coffee contains about 0.075% caffeine in total. That is, in a coffee it is also 99.9% caffeine free.
In this regard, Carl T. Bergstrom and Jevin D. West analyze the data in their book, Against Quackery , which we reviewed recently, pointing out that almost all coffee brands could be labeled this way, just as a brand product does. Nestlé that does the same:
Although we do not have an exact figure for this brand of cocoa, most cocoas contain about 20 milligrams of caffeine per 8-ounce cup, which is about 0.01% caffeine by weight. So we initially thought that maybe the 99.9% figure was referring to the cocoa powder, not the finished beverage. But Nestlé’s website makes it clear that it refers to the prepared beverage, not the powder: "With rich chocolate flavor and only 20 calories per individual packet, this cocoa gives you a free 8 fluid ounce serving of a 99, 9% caffeine. "