EWG Skin Deep® | What is CAFFEINE

HOW WE DETERMINE SCORES Learn more About EWG VERIFIED™

Data: Good

Caffeine

IMAGE SOURCE: PubChem

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Other Concerns

Persistence and bioaccumulation (moderate)

SYNONYMS

1H-PURINE-2,6-DIONE, 3,7-DIHYDRO-1,3,7-TRIMETHYL-, 1HPURINE2,6DIONE, 3,7DIHYDRO1,3,7TRIMETHYL, 3,7-DIHYDRO-1,3,7-TRIMETHYL- 1H-PURINE-2,6-DIONE, 3,7-DIHYDRO-1,3,7-TRIMETHYL-1H-PURINE-2,6-DIONE, 3,7-DIHYDRO-1,3,7-TRIMETHYL-1H-PYRINE-2,6-DIONE, 7-METHYLTHEOPHYLLINE, ANHYDROUS CAFFEINE, CAFFEINE, and METHYLTHEOBROMINE

This ingredient is not currently on EWG's Restricted or Unacceptable Lists.

Caffeine is a heterocyclic organic compound.

Common concerns

See how this product scores for common concerns.

LOW

Cancer
LOW

Allergies & Immunotoxicity
LOW

Developmental and Reproductive Toxicity
LOW

Use Restrictions

Ingredient concerns

CONCERNS
DATA SOURCES

Products with this Ingredient

around-eye cream	121 products
facial moisturizer/treatment	70 products
concealer	69 products
mask	59 products
daily use with SPF	46 products
serums & essences	46 products
shampoo	45 products
conditioner	34 products
foundation	19 products
hair treatment/serum	18 products
makeup primer	18 products
BB cream	16 products
recreational sunscreen	15 products
facial cleanser	15 products
moisturizer	15 products
antiperspirant/deodorant	15 products
body firming lotion	14 products
body wash/cleanser	13 products
exfoliant/scrub	11 products
lip plumper	10 products
hair styling aide	10 products
lip liner	10 products
hair-loss treatment	9 products
sunless tanning	9 products
anti-aging	8 products
setting powder/spray	8 products
	8 products
lipstick	4 products
toners/astringents	4 products
oil controller	3 products
lip balm	3 products
beard care	3 products
shaving cream	3 products
after shave	3 products
muscle/joint soreness	2 products
beard cleanser	2 products
bar soap	2 products
shaving cream (men's)	2 products
skin fading/lightener	2 products
facial powder	2 products
depilatory	1 products
tanning oil	1 products
antiperspirant/deodorant (men's)	1 products
body oil	1 products
CC cream	1 products
eye shadow	1 products
hand cream	1 products
hair spray	1 products
eye liner	1 products
blush	1 products
bronzer/highlighter	1 products
foot moisturizer	1 products
after sun product	1 products
styling gel/lotion	1 products

Persistence and bioaccumulation

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Persistent, bioaccumulative in wildlife	Emerging PBTs from peer-reviewed literature
Not suspected to be persistent	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List
Not suspected to be bioaccumulative	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List

Data gaps

CONCERN	REFERENCE
27683 studies in PubMed science library may include information on the toxicity of this chemical	NLM PubMed

Multiple, additive exposure sources

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Designated as safe for general or specific, limited use in food	FDA Everything Added to Food
Designated as safe for general or specific, limited use in food	FDA Food Additive Status

Cancer

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Limited or incomplete evidence of cancer according to safety/hazard data – government assessment cannot classify as human carcinogen due to data gaps	Int'l Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) - Carcinogens

Ecotoxicology

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Not suspected to be an environmental toxin	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List

Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Classified as not expected to be potentially toxic or harmful	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List

Emerging PBTs from peer-reviewed literature
EC (Environment Canada). 2008. Domestic Substances List Categorization. Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) Environmental Registry.
NLM (National Library of Medicine). 2012. PubMed online scientific bibliography data. http://www.pubmed.gov.
FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration). 2008. EAFUS [Everything Added to Food]: A Food Additive Database. FDA Office of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) 2006. Food Additive Status List. Downloaded from http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/%7Edms/opa-appa.html, Oct 16, 2006.
IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer). 2008. Overall Evaluations of Carcinogenicity to Humans, as evaluated in IARC Monographs Volumes 1-99 (a total of 935 agents, mixtures and exposures).

Understanding scores

Cosmetics and personal care products are not required to be tested for safety before being allowed on the market. The Skin Deep® scoring system was designed to help the public understand whether a product is safe to use or whether it contains ingredients of concern.

Every product and ingredient in Skin Deep gets a two-part score – one for hazard and one for data availability. The safest products score well by both measures, with a low hazard rating and a fair or better data availability rating.

HOW WE DETERMINE SCORES

Hazard score

The Skin Deep ingredient hazard score, from 1 to 10, reflects known and suspected hazards linked to the ingredients. The EWG VERIFIED™ mark means a product meets EWG’s strictest criteria for transparency and health.

Data availability

The Skin Deep data availability rating reflects the number of scientific studies about the product or ingredient in the published scientific literature.

NONE LIMITED FAIR GOOD ROBUST

Low Availability

Moderate Availability

High Availability