question about caffeine tolerance

[gib65]

Hello,

 

I've got questions about caffeine tolerance. Is there a minimum amount that one can take per day without tolerance building up? Say, 50mg per day? Or does tolerance start to build up no matter how little one takes?

[CharonY]

Theoretically extremely low doses are unlikely to have a strong habitual effect as caffeine gets eliminated fairly quickly. I do not have much data about the lowest limit, though. Exposure levels in mice at about 5mg/kg body weight, was found to exert tolerance effects in mice (see e.g. Chou et al. 1985 Life Sci Volume 36, Issue 24, 17).

That being said, differences in abstinence of caffeinated vs non-caffeinated humans with about 200 mg daily consumption showed less effect on mood (potentially to do relief of withdrawal symptoms), but no difference in other metrics (Addicott and Laurienti Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2009 Dec;207(3):423-3). So the answer is apparently not quite 100% clear.