Caffeine Limits in the NCAA

Last Updated on March 28, 2010

With the indoor season around the corner, I want to remind those athletes in the NCAA that caffeine is still on the list of controlled substances.

The NCAA maximum acceptable level is 15 mcg/mL (micrograms per millilitre) in the urine.

Now unless you have a Starbucks Venti sized drip coffee with an extra shot of espresso, a Rockstar Energy Shot, a couple of No-DOZ pills, and the new improved Vitalyze, this limit shouldn’t be a problem.

A standard drip coffee has around 100 mg per 8 oz cup (250 ml), and 100 mg of caffeine equates to approximately 1.5 mcg/mL in the urine, so you’re looking at 10 cup of coffee IN ONE HOUR to produce a sample of 15 mcg/mL .  Can you spell ectopic focus?

12 grams, or 12,000 mg of caffeine can actually kill you.  That’s a lot of coffee.

It takes around 30-45 minutes for caffeine to be absorbed into the bloodstream

Like alcohol, caffeine is metabolized in the liver.  The half-life time, or the amount to break down to 50% levels, depends on age, liver function, and other medications such as female oral contraceptives (which slows it down by almost 50%).

The estimated half-life in adults is anywhere between 5 hours in a healthy male to 10 hours for a female taking oral contraceptives.

So your window of testing positive is pretty high if you consume too much too soon.

If you consume too much caffeine close to the test, you may want to take the test right away before all the caffeine gets absorbed.  Moreover, if your caffeine was ingested a while ago, then delaying the test as long a possible is the key.

In an alcohol breathalyser, you have 2 hours to contact your lawyer to be present before you are forced to take it.  Refusing to take it is equivalent to a positive test.

Good luck sleeping after the track meet!  I guess that’s where a few beers come in.

For a complete list of products and their caffeine levels, check out the caffeine database.

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Jimson Lee

Coach & Founder at SpeedEndurance.com

I am a Masters Athlete and Coach currently based in London UK. My other projects include the Bud Winter Foundation, writer for the IAAF New Studies in Athletics Journal (NSA) and a member of the Track & Field Writers of America.

@speedendurance

Jimson Lee

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