5 surprising hidden sources of caffeine that you should stay away from
New Delhi : A cup of a good old coffee can help us through just about anything. Coffee can help you stay awake and increase your attention span and while there's nothing wrong in sipping on coffee to stop feeling lethargic and add some contagious energy to your steps there are some drawbacks of consuming too much of anything. Coffee contains caffeine and its important to understand that too much of caffeine has side effects. We all know coffee has caffeine but did you know that there are other things in your daily diet that may add on to your caffeine consumption. This is why it is very important to watch your diet and know the hidden sources of caffeine if you plan of doing a complete detox or in case you want to keep tabs on your daily caffeine consumption because too much caffeine can lead to health problems like dehydration and anxiety. It also has other side effects especially for those who have underlying chronic illnesses. Here are things that are hidden sources of caffeine.
1. Chocolate
Cocoa beans contain caffeine. Cocoa beans are the key ingredient essential for making chocolates. Dark chocolate may contain a higher amount of caffeine as compared to milk chocolate.
2. Soda
The energy drink that you love and the fizzy soda you sip on, both contain a certain amount of caffeine which can take a toll on your body.
3. Iced tea
Now most of us tend to replace our cup of coffee with iced tea in order to reduce our caffeine intake but what most of us are unaware of is that iced tea also contains caffeine, especially flavoured ice tea.
4. Painkillers
We can't always handle the pain and sometimes the best way out is to just pop a pill and get done with it but pharmaceutical companies are known to add a small amount of caffeine in painkillers which can help ease the pain.
5. Mouth fresheners
Those packets of mouth fresheners, gum and mint that you enjoy also contain caffeine and not just that, some mouth fresheners contain a very high dose of caffeine.