“It contains about as much caffeine as a cup of the leading premium coffee,” say the ads for 5-Hour ENERGY shot. But how much caffeine is that? The company won’t reveal how many milligrams of caffeine each 2-ounce shot contains, but CBS News had a bottle analyzed by ConsumerLab.com. The result: 207 mg – far more caffeine than in a cup of coffee. For comparison:
207 mg caffeine:
= 5-hour ENERGY Shot
= 2 cups average brewed coffee
= more than a Starbucks “short” (180 mg/8 ounces)
= six-pack Coca Cola
Want a bigger buzz? Extra-Strength 5-Hour ENERGY claims to have as much caffeine “as a 12-ounce cup of coffee.” No lab results are available, so it’s unclear how much caffeine this version actually contains.
Warning: 5-Hour Energy has come under federal scrutiny as a contributing factor in 13 deaths, due to the high caffeine content and other ingredients. The company claims its product is safe, but the Center for Science in the Public Interest issued a 2012 report warning consumers to avoid it until the FDA can resolve safety issues.