way too much caffeine and sugar in drinks, not advertised as "energy drinks"

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kingdragonfly

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#310937 1-Dec-2023 17:10

I think drink manufacturers are getting a little fast and loose with the amount of caffeine and sugar they put in drinks. (I'm excluding "energy drinks" in this post)

An American chain called "Panera bread" sells "charged lemonade" that likely killed someone.

From USA Today

It contained more caffeine than energy drinks like Monster or Red Bull, A young student had a heart condition called long QT syndrome type 1 which caused an irregular heart rhythm, so she avoided highly caffeinated drinks. According to the lawsuit, a large Charged Lemonade has 390 mg of caffeine in it, just 10 mg shy of the 400-milligram daily maximum advised by the FDA.

The lawsuit alleges the drink "was not advertised as an 'energy drink'" and the labeling failed to disclose the abnormally high caffeine content. The Charged Lemonade was displayed in the Philadelphia Panera store that Katz went to alongside the chains other non-caffeinated and/or less caffeinated drinks, says the suit.

The college student was said to be an avid Gatorade drinker, which is likewise advertised as "charged" but instead referrers to the presence of electrolytes but not caffeine, which the Katz family believes may have confused Sarah. The lawsuit alleges that Katz was "reasonably confident it was a traditional lemonade and/or electrolyte sports drink containing a reasonable amount of caffeine safe for her to drink."

Death by Lemonade? (ft. Doctor Mike)

vexxxboy

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#3166898 1-Dec-2023 17:43

i wonder how many people know that the Mountain dew drinks all have caffeine in them.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

Senecio

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#3166908 1-Dec-2023 18:15

vexxxboy:

i wonder how many people know that the Mountain dew drinks all have caffeine in them.

Interesting fact.

The Mountain Dew sold in NZ is a different formulation to the rest of the world due to our regulations. Its a lower caffeine content so it doesn't have to be labelled as an Energy drink.

2nd bonus fact.

Mountain was originally launched in Australia without any caffeine. In 2012 the Australian specific formulation was phased out and replaced with the global formulation. The formula was changed in Australia because they had to remove Yellow Dye No. 5 due to known side effects. Once caffeine was introduced it was relabelled as Mountain Dew Energised.

JimmyH

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#3166909 1-Dec-2023 18:19

I doubt the lawsuit will have much chance of success unless either the product was labelled as caffeine free, or it had nutritional labelling labelling that didn't clearly show the mg of caffeine per 100ml of beverage or similar information. Bluntly, the deceased clearly knew she had a heart condition where she had to avoid caffeine, which begs the question of why she didn't carefully check the labelling on that product (and indeed all products) before consuming.

The product isn't an intrinsically dangerous one, and as far as I can see shouldn't be dangerous to a normal adult without specific medical issues. Some days I, along with many other coffee drinkers, easily consume a multiple of that amount of caffeine without any (known) medical issues.

If the product was labelled as caffeine free, and they can establish that the caffeine in it likely contributed to her death, then they would likely have good prospects of winning. If it didn't have accurate labelling then it would have a much lesser, but still possible, chance of winning. If labelling panel did show explicitly the caffeine content then, although I'm not a lawyer, I would say there is a negligible chance of winning.

I have several friends with serious dietary issues (coeliac disease, diabetes, nut allergies) and they know that they consequently have to be very careful what they consume. So they always closely study the labels on anything they consume, avoid packaged products where the labelling isn't clear, and ask about anything unlabelled (restaurant food etc). They have learned how to read and interpret nutritional labels (which honestly isn't beyond any competent school student, let alone an adult or a university student).

They are trying to bolster their case with a claim that the deceased was "reasonably confident it was a traditional lemonade and/or electrolyte sports drink containing a reasonable amount of caffeine safe for her to drink." This seems highly speculative, and I'm not sure how they will establish this - particularly given that she (obviously) isn't available to give testimony on this, and the obvious question from the other side about why she didn't read the labelling instead of guessing.

Goosey

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#3167055 2-Dec-2023 07:28

I tried one of those "Prime" branded drinks this week.

Brought it for $13 NZD, in its native "americas", the shelf price is around US$3

Anyhow, comparing the ingredients....looks like its the same as powerade/gatorade....but with some extra sugar, some coconut water, some extra sugar....did I say sugar?

Drank it, my gut felt like it was getting instant diabetes....you know that sick feeling when you know you just had waay to much sugar.

For the next few days, I couldnt poop right.

johno1234

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#3167070 2-Dec-2023 08:39

Sugar consumption is a massive burden on our health system. Obesity, heart disease and diabetes are a massive issue that is heavily related to sugar consumption. I have almost zero concern about caffeine.

gzt

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#3167084 2-Dec-2023 10:19

There is a bottle of orange Mountain Dew sitting idle in my fridge since last year when I drank a cold glass in the afternoon and I could not sleep at all that evening. The label states it has caffeine does not say how many mg. The caffeine level in that Mountain Dew must be significantly higher than many other similar non-'energy' drinks.

Pepsi for example does not have that effect on me.

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jonathan18

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#3167161 2-Dec-2023 12:26

As it happens, this week’s episode of the Science Versus podcast is on caffeine:

https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs/5whmdl6x/caffeine-how-much-is-too-much

The episode overall is worth listening to, but one of the most interesting parts was the discussion of a study that looked at the effect of the constituent part of energy drinks such as Red Bull, to see which one contributes to the heart problem (‘QT interval;; apparently what people have died from, including the case mentioned by the OP) -

A single high-volume intake of ED (energy drink) caused adverse changes in BP, QTc, and insulin sensitivity in young, healthy individuals. These effects of EDs cannot be easily attributed to the single components caffeine, taurine, or glucuronolactone.

… so, weirdly, it may have be the combination of components, as opposed to any specific component.

Abstract here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022316622165739

So good to know it looks like we can carry on our coffee habit without needing to worry about this; indeed, the podcast also talks about the relationship between coffee drinking and increased life expectancy, so I’m happy!

Rikkitic

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#3167204 2-Dec-2023 15:35

I honestly cannot fathom why people want to consume that kind of crap at all. I get my caffeine from coffee and that is more than enough!

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

kingdragonfly

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#3167236 2-Dec-2023 18:13

Per 12 oz (standard coke can size). Chocolate is also 12 oz's.

Note Mountain Dew varies by country, with the UK having the most caffeine.

Senecio

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#3167238 2-Dec-2023 18:18

But is that 12oz of Espresso? That's about 12 shots.

kingdragonfly

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#3167246 2-Dec-2023 19:23

That is 12 oz of espresso, and the same of chocolate. It's also approximate.

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Handle9

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#3167325 3-Dec-2023 08:18

kingdragonfly: Per 12 oz (standard coke can size). Chocolate is also 12 oz's.

Note Mountain Dew varies by country, with the UK having the most caffeine.

There’s almost nothing more useless than graphs with no scale or attribution.

kingdragonfly

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#3167342 3-Dec-2023 09:57

The attribution is me, from lots of sources and calculation

Believe it or not, it was just for amusement. It's not for schoolwork to prove to teacher that I did my work. If you're looking for a medical paper, there's google.

What would a scale do? The caffeine amounts are tiny. If you saw the grains of Coke's caffeine, you'd be hard press to see the difference to Mountain Dew.

It is to scale, and as mentioned it all the same quantities.

There almost nothing more lazy than quoting an entire post, and kvetch

Quit your kvetching – minute of yiddish