Coffee, tea, soft drinks, energy drinks, and other high-caffeine drinks are the most popular beverages in the world. The FDA requires that caffeine be listed on package labels, but it does not require for companies to indicate whether the caffeine is from natural or synthetic sources.
In Jochmann’s study, he and his colleagues describe the use of a technique called stable-isotope analysis to discern between natural and synthetic caffeine. The test uses the differences between types of carbon isotopes and slight variations of the same element found in caffeine made by plants and caffeine made in labs with petroleum-derived molecular building blocks. Their analysis indicated that many caffeine drink companies use synthetic caffeine, even while the label claims the drink to be 100% natural.
The caffeine naturally contained in a few herbs such as Yerba Mate, Guarana, Kola Nut, and Green Tea to name a few, is naturally occurring caffeine, also known as "bio-caffeine" and is non-addictive.
The caffeine doing the major damage today is the caffeine produced by the pharmaceutical industry, the caffeine actually found in many drugs. This caffeine is synthetic and thus harmful. It can cause addiction. But "bio-caffeine" cannot and will not cause addiction. This is why people who drink herbal teas enjoy the beverage, but they are not addicted.
Consider how much synthetic caffeine is found in our drinks:
Brewed Coffee (8 ounces), 60-120 mg caffeine
Double Expresso (2 ounces), 45-100 mg caffeine
Instant Coffee (8 ounces), 70 mg caffeine
Black Tea (8 ounces) 45 mg caffeine
Pepsi Cola (12 ounce can), 38 mg caffeine
Coca Cola (12 ounce can), 34 mg caffeine
Hershey's Special Dark chocolate bar (1.45 ounces), 31 mg caffeine
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