HM 5-3 Clearly, caffeine use may have some undesirable consequences. Because many people are unaware of the caffeine content of various substances, they probably do not know how much caffeine they ingest. Landrum (1992) developed a questionnaire to measure the level of caffeine use by individuals. This information is particularly important in light of two critical caffeine consumption levels published by the Addiction Research Foundation (ARF).

HM 5-3 The ARF (1997) said that consumption of 350 mg of more of caffeine per day results in physical addiction. Withdrawal effect will occur if caffeine use is terminated at this level. The ARF also set 650 mg or more of caffeine ingestion as the level at which long-term effects may occur. Such effects can include disturbances of sleep and mood as well as ulcers.

HM 5-3 Landrum (1992) administered the Caffeine Consumption Questionnaire (CCQ) to 116 undergraduates and found a mean caffeine ingestion rate of 765 mg/week, with men ingesting over 100 mg/week more than women. However, caffeine usage among undergraduates appears to be on the rise. Shohet and Landrum (200 lb) gave the CCQ to 691 students.

HM 5-3 They found a mean ingestion rate of almost 1600 mg of caffeine per week (range of 13mg/week of 21,840), almost double the rate of the earlier study. Caffeine usage among undergraduates was near the addiction range estimated by the ARF. The ARF estimated that 20% of the population ingests more than 350 mg of caffeine a day, which would equate to 2450 mg per week. Also, the ARF estimated that only 3% of people ingest 650 mg or more of caffeine per day, or 4550 mg weekly on Landrum’s scale.

HM 5-3 Shohet and Landrum reported the following patterns of caffeine usage. Time of day mg/weekf of use per week Morning (6am-noon) Afternoon (noon-6pm) Evening (6pm-midnight) Night (midnight-6am)

HM 5-3 In addition to the time of day statistics, Shohet and Landrum (200 lb) also found the levels of caffeine for percentiles of the students who completed the CCQ. PercentileConsumptionPercentileConsumption(mg/week) 90 th th th th th th th th th

HM 5-3 Because of changing patterns of caffeine use and availability, Shohet and Landrum (2001a) revised the CCQ. For example, the current popularity of coffee shops and their custom coffees may have increased the consumption of such drinks. You can distribute the revised CCQ, reproduced in HM 5-3, in class to estimate caffeine use among your students.

HM 5-3 Be sure to remind your students that they are to respond about their caffeine usage per week, not daily, to average out any particularly high or low days of caffeine usage. The numbers shown in the right –hand column represent the average mg of caffeine for each substance on the scale and are for use in calculating caffeine consumption.

HM 5-3 If you fear that students might react to seeing the amount of caffeine in substances that they ingest, you could cover or remove the column before you make copies for classroom use. The actual amounts of caffeine contained in these substances may very somewhat.