teen dies after drinking caffeine too quickly (Mountain Dew, McDonalds latte and an energy drink)

dowie

dowie

dowie

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since this is a computer related forum and there is a bit of a nerd stereotype re: energy drinks and Mountain Dew etc.. this might be worth highlighting - chugging them down quickly can be rather dangerous:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39932366

The 16-year-old died from a "caffeine-induced cardiac event causing a probable arrhythmia".

He had no pre-existing heart condition.

The teenager weighed 90kg (200 lbs) but would not have been considered morbidly obese, Mr Watts said.

"This is not a caffeine overdose," Mr Watts told Reuters news agency.

"We're not saying that it was the total amount of caffeine in the system, it was just the way that it was ingested over that short period of time, and the chugging of the energy drink at the end was what the issue was with the cardiac arrhythmia."
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Read this earlier this morning, they believe he drank over 400mg of caffeine within 2 hours, the mayo clinic who've done leading research on caffeine and its effects say that amount is only safe over the period of a whole day.

At first I suspected he might have had some undiagnosed heart condition but the BBC article stated this wasn't the case, I know some people are more sensitive to caffeine than others and it spikes their heart rate a fair bit. Arrhythmia's are no fun though even when they're harmless, first time I experienced a rhythm disturbance I thought I was a goner.
 
I've witnessed a friend drink more than 24 cans of redbull in well under 24 hours (when at i22), he felt very odd at the end of the day.

I just don't see how the article is correct with just the information given.
 
I have three coffees withing 2 hours everyday so i am well over 400mg of caffeine :O

Think i need to cut back
 
I started typing a thread on this and saw this.

I grew up drinking coffee regularly as a child (as is normal in many countries). When i was a teenager i went through a energy drink phase and recall guzzling two cans during lunch-breaks fairly regularly (i cant stand the syrupy taste anymore). I find it ridiculous that the blame has been pretty much solely put on caffeine.

Surely the report should say 'he had no known pre-existing heart conditions'. People will be freaking out over caffeine killing a teenager but this boy is a fair bit bigger than me, there must be more too it.

If that dosage is a danger to some more sensitive people, then we would see people dropping dead at bars/clubs on a friday/saturday after doing a few Jagerbombs, moving onto their vodka redbull and following up their line of coke with a smoke.
 
paradigm said:
I just don't see how the article is correct with just the information given.
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??? what do you think isn't correct - that he died of an arrhythmia or that lots of caffeine in a short space of time can cause them? I don't think there is much to dispute in either case tbh...

It might well be other pointing out that your mate is an idiot though and just because his red bull binge didn't kill him doesn't mean it is safe to do what he did.

Avenged7Fold said:
Surely the report should say 'he had no known pre-existing heart conditions'.
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perhaps - but the message is still the same - chugging energy drinks is probably a bad idea... they've been quite clear that it isn't the simply the quantity that was dangerous
 
Yeah this seems like a wild anomaly. One of my mates has a story about a guy he knew at uni who consumed some pure caffeine, in solid form. The guy who died here had 470mg, so less than half a gram. And I don't think my mate's mate had an awful lot, but I'm guessing at least a few grams. Admittedly he was hospitalised, but it makes the amount this guy had over a longer time period, look like a lot less.

Anecdotal story is anecdotal.
 
I feel a bit loopy if I drink more than a can of Pepsi so can understand caffeine having a substantial biological effect. Given he's a bit of a porker his heart could be under some stress already which would exaggerate potential harmful effects.
 
paradigm said:
I've witnessed a friend drink more than 24 cans of redbull in well under 24 hours (when at i22), he felt very odd at the end of the day.

I just don't see how the article is correct with just the information given.
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probably to do with different tolerances, some folks can take it more than others, it's the same with every drug.
 
I suspect they'll find something else triggered his death rather than caffeine. Up until December last year, I was drinking anywhere from 200-600mg of caffeine almost every day for the past 6 or 7 years in the form of pre-workout drinks for the gym - I don't drink tea / coffee or any other hot drinks - and that was in a single serving right before the gym, sometimes twice a day. I managed to 'quit' caffeine entirely up until a month ago when I started having some again.

I've gone through a pilot medical and the only thing wrong with me was raised blood pressure which was down to white coat syndrome!
 
I gave up caffeine for a week and it was the worst feeling ever. Felt really depressed. Wasn't sure what the issue was at the time but after a cup of tea I instantly started feeling good again. I guess I have a problem.

I used to take 200mg caffeine pills when I was younger. Didn't even give it a second thought.
 
Found it

But the university had switched to using pure caffeine in powder form.

Mr Rossetto was given 30.6g of this and Mr Parkin 32g, mixed into a solution of water and orange juice.

They should have been given 306mg and 320mg but decimal points were wrongly inserted in calculations based on their height and weight.
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Apparently they had to be put on dialysis to give their liver a break from filtering the caffeine from their blood.
 
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