Teen death ruled as a caffeine overdose.

[Allybeboba]

Every day millions of people drink multiple energy drinks back to back almost.

1 of them dies

ERMAGHERD THE ENERDSSCHII DRINNKSS

And it makes the news.
Now you are starting to get it... do you see the light?

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Yeah, a doc in the version of the article that I read said that many, many, many more people take in the dose that he had AND MORE every day and have no problems. So this sounds like some freak accident.

It is a "freak accident".

[Deleted]

Well that was a good read time to get coffee.

[grexly75]

Unless he was pounding down redbulls as some feat of testicular fortitude. I have a hard time believing this was just normal consumption. He had to be trying to drink as much as he could or something to the effect.

Some people are more susceptible to these sorts of drink than many people realize.. I know a few people who can't drink the stuff less they end up in hospital with heart problems..

[Rend Blackhand]

A shame.

This is why energy drinks in the UK have a health warning on them and some shops even refuse to sell them to under 18s.

A coffee, a dizzy drink and then an energetic drink on top of that. Jesus Christ, what was he thinking?

[Symphonic]

This info below validates what some are saying about 1 death causes a frenzy when so many other people don't die after taking WAY more caffeine. I suspect the individual that died had another unknown condition that caused his death, triggered by the caffeine somehow...


The American Association of Poison Control Centers tracks all the calls they receive from intentional or accidental overdose of all kinds of substances and drugs including caffeine and energy drinks.

Here is their latest data published in 2014 for the year 2013.

Energy Product	Single Exposures	Adults 20+	Children < 20	Deaths
Energy Drinks (caffeine any source)	1,685*	343	1,298	0
Caffeine	2,516*	943	1,453	0

*The ages of some of the individuals were unknown.

The above data tells us that there are indeed people ingesting too much caffeine from products like energy drinks, coffee, and caffeine pills.

The majority of these incidents are happening to those under the age of 20, which is somewhat alarming.

Luckily for the majority of those involved, there were no reported deaths as the result of caffeine consumption in 2013 as reported by the AAPCC, but 1,182 people were treated at a medical facility as the result of the exposure with 12 people experiencing major negative health symptoms.

[StayTuned]

A shame.

This is why energy drinks in the UK have a health warning on them and some shops even refuse to sell them to under 18s.

A coffee, a dizzy drink and then an energetic drink on top of that. Jesus Christ, what was he thinking?

That's my freaking standard day.

Start with a coffee in the morning, get a redbull on the way to work, drink another coffee at work, drink another espresso after lunch, drink another coffee just before finishing work

Doesn't faze me one bit.

[kyoloco]

i miss the old fourlokos

[Firefall]

This info below validates what some are saying about 1 death causes a frenzy when so many other people don't die after taking WAY more caffeine. I suspect the individual that died had another unknown condition that caused his death, triggered by the caffeine somehow...


The American Association of Poison Control Centers tracks all the calls they receive from intentional or accidental overdose of all kinds of substances and drugs including caffeine and energy drinks.

Here is their latest data published in 2014 for the year 2013.

Energy Product	Single Exposures	Adults 20+	Children < 20	Deaths
Energy Drinks (caffeine any source)	1,685*	343	1,298	0
Caffeine	2,516*	943	1,453	0

*The ages of some of the individuals were unknown.

The above data tells us that there are indeed people ingesting too much caffeine from products like energy drinks, coffee, and caffeine pills.

The majority of these incidents are happening to those under the age of 20, which is somewhat alarming.

Luckily for the majority of those involved, there were no reported deaths as the result of caffeine consumption in 2013 as reported by the AAPCC, but 1,182 people were treated at a medical facility as the result of the exposure with 12 people experiencing major negative health symptoms.

I'm curious what would prompt someone to call poison control due to caffeine. They'd have to know they digested too much, which seems like it could only happen from pills. Maybe like a bunch of energy shots?Most issues, as you say, are triggered by the caffeine but not directly from it, as caffeine is a diuretic.

On the under 20 thing, young men are actually in a fairly high risk category for vasovagal fainting, the type of fainting triggered by dehydration when your blood pressure drops (although some of those statistics may be skewed because there's a lot of young men fainting in the army). This is what actually puts someone at risk from caffeine. Ensure you're having extra salt on days you have more caffeine.

It's a real issue and something that everyone of every age should consider to be an actual risk of consuming more caffeine than their limit, but calling the story in the OP a caffeine overdose is misleading unless one know what a caffeine overdose actually entails. You'd probably pass out or throw up from water intoxication from most beverages before you'd actually die from the caffeine.

[Allybeboba]

Well yeah, I do than that medical examiner on this one, because I've dealt with it. They clearly haven't.

Perhaps you should write him a letter and inform him of his misdiagnosis.

[Deleted]

Oh, I am allowed 7 coffee a day - 185 would be fatal. o_O

According to the calculator, I am allowed to drink ~2 (500 ml) cans of Monster Zero per day as the safe maximum. For a whole while I consumed around 6-7 cans per day on average. Guess it can go well - or not.

[Gib Lover]

You'd probably pass out or throw up from water intoxication from most beverages before you'd actually die from the caffeine.

Yeah according to that site linked earlier, I would have to drink over 7 gallons of my preferred Rockstar in a day to die. That's like what, triple the amount of liquid as a regular person dies of water intoxication?
When I was 2 years younger than this kid, I worked at a dirtbike shop and the owner basically told us to drink unlimited energy drinks because he just wrote them off and I was up to like 5 a day. The withdrawals were pretty severe when I quit, but I never felt like I was going to die after pounding a bunch back.

[Freighter]

Have you visited https://www.caffeineinformer.com/death-by-caffeine yet?

How much of your favorite energy drink, soda, or coffee should you consume?

There's no caffeine in Fanta, so that won't affect you. But watch out for the sugar.

[Firefall]

Perhaps you should write him a letter and inform him of his misdiagnosis.

I'm not sure if you're a troll or didn't read my post. The ELI5: You literally cannot die from ~500mg of caffeine. You can from the diuretic effect of the caffeine lowering your electrolytes and making you dehydrated. If you faint without proper electrolytes your heart can't always bounce back, because those are what regulate your heart beat. It's completely possible the teen died from this, but if the medical examiner isn't an idiot, that is what he meant by caffeine overdose, not that he literally overdosed on caffeine like people are discussing in this thread, because you simply can't on 500 mg.

[Symphonic]

This is what actually puts someone at risk from caffeine. Ensure you're having extra salt on days you have more caffeine.

Perhaps this is why I love eating Frito's when I drink mountain dew. It's my favorite junk-food combination

[Dellis0991]

Nothing good never comes from drinking caffeine over more caffeine. Developing teens should be warned about the dangers of over indulging in caffeine and sugar.

[GennGreymane]

Did the kid know of the heart condition before hand? Did the parents?

[Dellis0991]

i miss the old fourlokos

Your a madman!!

[Deleted]

Considering the danger of caffiene food and drink products should have it properly noted on the list of ingredients like alcohol or tobacco.

[Evangeliste]

I don't think it's so much underlying heart issues. The coroner would have said and spotted them, it's in their job description to clarify that and omitting is would result in law up their asses. I reckon it's either a prolonged use, coupled with a really crappy way of living or his body just wasn't able to handle it, similar to say allergies - some people's bodies just can't tolerate peanutes (can even die from it in big enough doses) meanwhile another can eat barrels of peanuts and process them as normal.

[xact4]

Pretty much this. 3 caffeinated drinks in a row don't kill you.

Depends on the drink, could've been a drink like redbull... or could've been a "drink" like the little concentrated energy shots they sell everywhere. Every time I use one of those I can feel my own heartbeat pounding inside my head for the rest of the day.

Did the kid know of the heart condition before hand? Did the parents?

Didn't have a heart condition.