Beware of caffeine overdose
WASHINGTON: Davis Cripe left home April 26 an active and healthy teenage boy, but in art class that afternoon he fell to his knees and told worried classmates that he felt light-headed.
He passed out on the floor and was rushed to a nearby hospital. By 3.30pm, around the time the final bell rang at school, he was dead.
His sudden death may have remained a medical mystery, the coroner who conducted his autopsy said, if friends at Spring Hill High School in South Carolina hadn’t described what Davis ingested during lunch: Enough caffeine to disrupt and ultimately stop his heart.
Earlier this week, Richland County Coroner Gary Watts told reporters about the troubling – and what he is sure will be controversial – contributing factors in the South Carolina teenager’s death.
“He was a great kid,” said Davis’ father, Sean Cripe. “You worry about their safety, their health, especially once they start driving. But it wasn’t a crash that took his life. Instead it was an energy drink.”
In the span of two hours, Davis drank a café latte from McDonald’s and a large Mountain Dew, then “chugged” a 470ml energy drink when he returned to art class, Watts told The Washington Post.
The official cause of death was “caffeine-induced cardiac event causing a probable arrhythmia”, Watts said.
Holding a news conference was difficult for Davis’ family, Watts said, but the story of a teen who died after legally purchasing drinks containing a drug many believe is safe is “a conversation worth having”.
“I’m not saying that you’re going to die because you have an energy drink,” Watts said. “It’s not the level of caffeine in his system, but the amount of caffeine he took in in that short period of time affected his heart.”
Watts said it’s the first time in his two decades as coroner that he’s seen such a case. Davis’ friends were key to helping investigators connect the dots.
Watts concedes that there are conflicting opinions about the dangers of caffeine, even among coroners. And he told The Washington Post that caffeine has different effects on different people.
Still, the Palmetto Poison Centre issued an advisory after the autopsy reports. It pointed to an FDA recommendation that adults don’t consume more than 400mg of caffeine a day – about four to five cups of coffee. Energy drinks contain about 300mg of caffeine.
The American Academy of Paediatrics says children and adolescents shouldn’t consume caffeine at all.
“Consuming large amounts of caffeine can cause heart related problems including increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, and irregular heart rhythm,” the poison centre said. “Additionally, vomiting, diarrhoea, seizures, and even death can occur.”
But the poison centre’s warning wasn’t the first, and caffeine-related health problems continue to rise alongside the number of products that promise to efficiently pump caffeine into consumers’ bloodstreams.
Last year, the Energy and Sports drink market had $25 billion in sales, an increase of 7% in the past five years, according to a report by the market research company Packaged Facts.
The American Beverage Association, which represents 95% of energy drink makers, directs its members to advise consumers that they’re not recommended for children, pregnant or nursing women.