You don’t need the caffeine and sugar-riddled high energy drinks to get a small kick that might carry you through a project or a tired moment. At least that’s the advice of Ricky Schaub, exercise physiologist in cardiac rehabilitation at Pascagoula, Miss.-based Singing River Hospital Systems.

“If you want a little caffeine stimulation you can get that from about any soft drink, even diet soft drinks without calories,” Schaub said. “Diet Coke, for example, is 45 milligrams, and that’s enough to increase alertness.”

Schaub explained the workings of caffeine:

“It can, for example, delay fatigue in an athlete in training by pulling fat and blood sugar out of your body cells and putting it into your blood. The body metabolizes the fat and sugar for energy.

“Caffeine is also a vaso-dilator, which increases the width of your blood vessels. It carries away carbon dioxide faster and increases oxygen, which increases blood flow to muscles. It does not take a lot of caffeine to do that. A regular cup of coffee will do.

“But keep in mind this is all short term. Caffeine peaks in your blood level in about 30 minutes after you take it and it disappears within a few hours.”

At a glance

– When caffeine is added to U.S. foods and beverages, it must appear in the list of ingredients on the label.

– Manufacturers aren’t required to list the actual amount of caffeine.

– Caffeine is a naturally occurring substance found in the leaves, seeds or fruits of more than 60 plants, including coffee and cocoa beans, kola nuts and tea leaves.

– Excessive caffeine, more than 500 milligrams a day, can cause irritability, nervousness, anxiety, insomnia, headaches and diarrhea.

– For most people, moderate doses of caffeine, 200 to 300 milligrams a day, aren’t harmful.

– Some sensitive individuals may experience temporary headache, restlessness and irritability when daily intake is substantially altered.

– People who say they are “addicted” to caffeine use the term loosely, like saying they are “addicted” to chocolate or television. The World Health Organization says there is no evidence caffeine is comparable to physical consequences of serious drugs of abuse.

Sources: International Food Information Council, Mayo Clinic