Energy drinks and over-coffee boy died of overdose of caffeine

16-year-old teenager dies of too much caffeine
Experts criticize again and again: young people take too much caffeine to themselves. This can cause enormous health problems. A very high consumption of energy drinks, coffee and Co. can even end in adolescents sometimes fatal, as a recent case from the US shows.

High consumption of energy drinks endangers the health
Many teenagers consume too much caffeine, especially in the form of energy drinks. It has long been known that such drinks pose a health hazard. After higher consumption, it may, for example, tachycardia and high blood pressure. That the sugar-sweet drinks pose a risk to the heart, also shows a case from the US. There, a teenager, after consuming several different caffeinated drinks, had severe cardiac arrhythmia and died.

In the US, a teenager died from an overdose of caffeine. The 16-year-old had drank a milk coffee, an energy drink and a caffeinated lemonade within a short time. (Image: beermedia.de/fotolia.com)

Death from overdose of caffeine
According to media reports, a 16-year-old has died of an overdose of caffeine in the state of South Carolina.

According to the report, the teenager had drunk a latte, a large bottle of caffeine-containing Diet Mountain Dew lemonade, and an energy drink in two hours.

According to "CNN," the teenager collapsed in a classroom at his school near the city of Columbia, was taken to hospital with severe cardiac arrhythmias, and eventually suffered cardiac arrest.

Boys lost to "completely legal substance"
As the medical examiner Gary Watts explained, the 16-year-old had been healthy, he had no heart defect. Even drugs or alcohol were not involved.

"That was not an overdose," Watts said. The boy died of a "completely legal substance". "Our goal is to educate people, especially the young kids in the school, that these drinks can be dangerous, and that they should be very careful with how they use them and how much they drink from them."

The father of the deceased also made an appeal to all parents: "Please talk to your children about the dangers of these energy drinks."

According to Watts, especially among adolescents and young adults, the risk of caffeine is difficult to assess.

There are people who could consume significantly more caffeine than the deceased and have no problems.

Do without so-called energy drinks
This was not the first death associated with energy drinks. A few years ago, for example, a 14-year-old American died after two such drinks.

The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) writes in an earlier communication that although some case reports on the consumption of energy drinks have sometimes described deaths, causality has not been clearly established.

But "from the point of view of BfR, health risks can arise if energy drinks or energy shots are consumed in large quantities. In addition, there are indications that especially the simultaneous consumption of energy drinks and higher amounts of alcohol and / or extensive physical activity increase the risk of adverse health effects, "say the experts.

"Certain consumer groups, such as children, pregnant women, breastfeeding and caffeine-sensitive persons, should refrain from consuming such energy drinks," it continues.

In Germany there is a lot of talk about a possible ban on energy drinks. (Ad)