4 ms·

The link to caffeine seems rather tenuous, given the low dose of around 0.5 g mentioned in the article. In another incident someone was given 30 g of caffeine a

The link to caffeine seems rather tenuous, given the low dose of around 0.5 g mentioned in the article. In another incident someone was given 30 g of caffeine and they survived (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jan/25/students-caffeine-newcastle-crown-court-northumbria https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jan/25/students-caf...), and the same article mentions a reported death at 18 g of caffeine. I can't really see how the causality is established from the article between the caffeine and the death.

giarc 9y ago
I wonder if the deceased had an underlying, diagnosed heart condition as well.
- karmajunkie 9y ago
  The article mentions that he had no preexisting heart condition.
  - trendia 9y ago
    that they knew of. I doubt that most teens with underlying heart conditions (like atrial fib) go to a cardio center.
    - 6nf 9y ago
      They did an autopsy, this is the coroner's report. He would have checked for heart conditions.
fivestar 9y ago
The fatal dose of caffeine is fairly low, though. I'm sure it depends on body mass and such, but it's on the order of tens of grams.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 9y ago
  The amount is roughly equal to (slightly more) than three 16 fl-oz cans of Red Bull. Certainly enough to give someone hyperactive shakes, but not normally enough to kill someone. Tolerance might play a factor, but I can down two of these cans without too much issue && do so probably once a month or so during a particularly long workday when I haven't had enough sleep. I wonder if dosage time was a factor. Even though the half-life of caffeine is super long my ingestion of ~0.3g typically happens over the course of 4 hours or so.
williamstein 9y ago
This linked article is also interesting since the 100x overdose that almost killed those students was a direct result of a mathematical error, due to a lack of numerical common sense: "The calculation had been done on a mobile phone, with the decimal point in the wrong place". Also, the subjects who received 30g and survived, were intensely treated for the overdose in a hospital, and it sounds like they may have died without immediate professional treatment.

giarc 9y ago

I wonder if the deceased had an underlying, diagnosed heart condition as well.

karmajunkie 9y ago
The article mentions that he had no preexisting heart condition.
- trendia 9y ago
  that they knew of. I doubt that most teens with underlying heart conditions (like atrial fib) go to a cardio center.
  - 6nf 9y ago
    They did an autopsy, this is the coroner's report. He would have checked for heart conditions.

fivestar 9y ago

The fatal dose of caffeine is fairly low, though. I'm sure it depends on body mass and such, but it's on the order of tens of grams.

SOLAR_FIELDS 9y ago
The amount is roughly equal to (slightly more) than three 16 fl-oz cans of Red Bull. Certainly enough to give someone hyperactive shakes, but not normally enough to kill someone. Tolerance might play a factor, but I can down two of these cans without too much issue && do so probably once a month or so during a particularly long workday when I haven't had enough sleep. I wonder if dosage time was a factor. Even though the half-life of caffeine is super long my ingestion of ~0.3g typically happens over the course of 4 hours or so.

williamstein 9y ago

This linked article is also interesting since the 100x overdose that almost killed those students was a direct result of a mathematical error, due to a lack of numerical common sense: "The calculation had been done on a mobile phone, with the decimal point in the wrong place". Also, the subjects who received 30g and survived, were intensely treated for the overdose in a hospital, and it sounds like they may have died without immediate professional treatment.