Caffeine
Of 4,289 on-market caffeine products in the January 2026 DSLD dump, the median declared dose is 200 mg, and 99.6% list Caffeine Anhydrous as the primary form.
Form share
Of 4,099 products with an identifiable primary form, here is the share held by each form of Caffeine on the market today.
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| Form | Quality tier | n | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caffeine Anhydrous | Tier 1 | 4,084 | 99.6% |
| Caffeine Citrate | Tier 2 | 15 | 0.4% |
Forms we recognize but found no primary-form products for in this release: Naturally Occurring Caffeine (guarana/green tea/coffee bean extract), Dicaffeine Malate (e.g. "Infinergy").
Form share over time
Entry-year breakdown of the top forms, 2012–2025.
Dose distribution
Deciles of declared dose per serving (mg), among 3,163 products with a disclosed amount and UL of 400.
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- 3.7% of products fall below the fairy-dust threshold (28 mg, 20% of the studied low dose).
- 25.3% of products don't disclose an amount because Caffeine is declared inside a proprietary blend.
Where does your dose rank?
Enter a per-serving dose (mg) to see exactly how it compares to the 3,132 on-market caffeine products with a disclosed amount. The chart above groups doses into deciles; this looks up the exact percentile for one number.
By dosage form
By target group
Top brands
Search interest over time
How often people search for caffeine on Google, US only, the last 5 years. This is public interest, not DSLD label data — a spike here doesn't necessarily line up with anything on this page, and Google's own index (100 = that term's peak popularity in the chosen window) is relative, not an absolute search-volume count.
Or see this search directly on trends.google.com.
Forms explained
The form used in the overwhelming majority of human PK and exercise-performance RCTs, including the ISSN position stand's underlying evidence base.
Source: Guest NS et al. 2021, J Int Soc Sports Nutr 18(1):1
Pharmacologically the same molecule as anhydrous caffeine, co-occurring with polyphenols/tannins some studies suggest alter absorption kinetics (marketed as "smoother" onset), but no strong independent dose-controlled RCT isolating a clinically meaningful difference was located.
Source: none found
Elemental fraction: 50.3% ()
Well-established in neonatal medicine (apnea of prematurity) as a distinct clinical use-case; in adult supplements it is primarily a solubility/stability choice delivering the same caffeine molecule, with no evidence of a meaningfully different adult efficacy/safety profile per mg of caffeine. Caffeine citrate is only ~50.3% caffeine by mass (1:1 caffeine:citric acid, MW 386.31), the standard clinical equivalence being 20 mg/mL caffeine citrate = 10 mg/mL caffeine base, so declared mg of the salt over-counts caffeine about 2x.
Elemental fraction: 74.3% (~74.3% caffeine / 25.7% malic acid by molecular weight (2 x 194.19 / 522.47) -- NOT a mineral elemental fraction, but a caffeine-content correction factor applied the same way (mg dicaffeine malate x 0.743 = mg caffeine))
Marketed (e.g. as Infinergy) as slow-release/reduced-jitter, but no peer-reviewed human PK, performance or safety study of dicaffeine malate was located; the claimed longer half-life and "no-crash" effect are manufacturer claims only and not independently verified.
Source: none found -- PubMed search (Oct 2026) located no study of dicaffeine malate
Reference values
- RDA (adult): not established — Not a DRI nutrient; no RDA/AI exists.
- Tolerable Upper Intake Level (adult): 400 mg — Not an IOM/NASEM UL, but real general safety-limit guidance exists: FDA states ~400mg/day is "not generally associated with negative effects" for most healthy adults. EFSA's 2015 Scientific Opinion (EFSA Journal 13(5):4102) concluded habitual intakes up to 400mg/day, and single doses up to 200mg, do not raise safety concerns for the general healthy adult population (lower ~200mg/day threshold for pregnant women). Treat as consumer/food-safety guidance, not a nutrient UL in the IOM sense.
- Studied clinical dose range: 140–420 mg
- Guest NS et al. 2021 (ISSN position stand), J Int Soc Sports Nutr 18(1):1 -- consistent small-to-moderate ergogenic effects (endurance, strength, power) at 3-6 mg/kg body mass (~210-420mg for a 70kg adult), minimal effective dose possibly as low as 2mg/kg (~140mg), diminishing returns/more side effects at >=9mg/kg.
- Note: Dicaffeine malate is ~74.3% caffeine / 25.7% malic acid by molecular weight (2 x 194.19 / 522.47) -- label mg of "dicaffeine malate" is NOT the same as mg of caffeine; the matching pipeline must apply that ratio rather than treating declared mg as pure caffeine. Caffeine citrate (1:1 caffeine:citric acid, MW 386.31) is likewise only ~50.3% caffeine by mass.