Now you can drink your caffeine and eat it, too
BY SHIRLEY PERRYMAN
The words caffeine and energy seem to go hand in hand.
If you count on that kick from your caffeine-loaded beverage to jump-start your day or help with brain fog, you can find it just as easily in food.
You can have an oatmeal breakfast such as Morning Spark, a health food typically promoted for heart health that “sparks” your morning with caffeine. For an afternoon snack, grab a caffeinated snack such as NRG caffeinated potato chips or a Snickers Charged bar that contains the same amount of caffeine that you would get in an 8-ounce cup of coffee – 60 milligrams.
This new trend of adding caffeine to food likely started in part because the candy industry is suffering from fewer kids in the population and the increasing awareness of the obesity epidemic in our country. Candy manufacturers have taken to creative marketing and are now targeting adults – their new audience – by loading up their confections with energy-enhancing additives, including caffeine.
In addition to these newly charged choices, caffeine still occurs naturally in some foods, such as coffee beans, cocoa beans, tea leaves and kola nuts.
If it’s now easier to get caffeine in your diet, is it better to be adding more of it? That depends on your perspective.
