Study of Caffeine Consumption Rate and Concentration in Different Food and Beverages Consumed by Libyan Children

Caffeine is the most commonly used psychoactive substance throughout the world. It is found in coffee, black tea, and chocolate, as it is produced naturally in the beans and leaves of the plants used to manufacture these products. This study aimed to make a survey study among children 2-11 years in some Tripoli, Libya schools to determine caffeine concentration in number of beverages and foods consumed by studied children. About 313 copies of the questionnaire were distributed to students to be filled by their parents. Caffeine was extracted from samples using dichloromethane. Purity of isolated caffeine was estimated by using TLC method. Quantitative analysis of caffeine was performed by using a UV-Visible spectrophotometer. Chocolate biscuits, chocolate cake, cocoa milk and chocolate ice cream were the highest consumed products among the studied children (81 %, 79 %, 67 % and 63 % respectively). The highest side effects of caffeine consumption was hyperactivity was the highest side effect in children (76 %). Some children also suffered from severe side effects such as panic attack (14 %). Naseem ice cream sample showed the highest caffeine content (28 mg/serving) among solid samples. Whereas in the beverages, energy drink samples Red pull, XIR and Shark were 268, 262 and 250 mg/serving respectively. In conclusion, there was excessive consumption of caffeine among the studied group of children and some of them showed side effects and even severe side effects. Variety of tested foods and beverages under the study contained uncontrolled concentrations of caffeine. In addition, chocolate milk (Al Rayhan), contained no caffeine.