Let’s assume the person is 50kg (low estimate), a lethal dose is 150mg * 50 per day, or 7500mg. Three lemonades is merely 2x the point where caffeine intoxication starts, so I’d expect the following symptoms:
According to the DSM-5, caffeine intoxication may be diagnosed if five (or more) of the following symptoms develop after recent consumption of caffeine: restlessness, nervousness, excitement, insomnia, flushed face, diuresis, gastrointestinal disturbance, muscle twitching, rambling flow of thought and speech, tachycardia or cardiac arrhythmia, periods of inexhaustibility, and psychomotor agitation.
And at very high levels of consumption (about 5x of those three lemonades):
According to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), cases of very high caffeine intake (e.g. > 5 g) may result in caffeine intoxication with symptoms including mania, depression, lapses in judgment, disorientation, disinhibition, delusions, hallucinations or psychosis, and rhabdomyolysis.
None of those are life threatening, unless you have an underlying medical condition that makes you especially sensitive to caffeine. So three large lemonades would give you moderate symptoms, and those would likely go away within hours. The person in the article didn’t die from caffeine overdose, they died from a heart attack, meaning they likely had significant health issues where the high caffeine load pushed their heart too far. If you’ll notice, heart attack isn’t one of the symptoms at all, even with a much higher caffeine load.
Huh, I guess he didn’t have enough to hallucinate! Still enough to experience hearth arrhythmia, though, which can be dangerous (and was fatal in this case)
I gotta be honest, I think he’s stupid for doing this to himself.
I just don’t believe stupid people deserve to die.
Nor do I, but I also don’t think we should restrict everyone just because of some stupid people. As the saying goes:
If you make something idiot-proof, someone will just make a better idiot.
Put up sufficient warnings, perhaps warn them verbally before purchase, and then let people do what they want, provided it won’t hurt anyone but themselves. Obviously there should be exceptions for when someone is impaired (e.g. a bar), but if they seem to be of sound mind, let adults make their own stupid decisions.
I don’t expect a cashier to know that someone could die when purchasing their product, nor do I think the business is obligated to do anything more than warn when it comes to relatively harmless products like caffeinated beverages.
Let’s assume the person is 50kg (low estimate), a lethal dose is 150mg * 50 per day, or 7500mg. Three lemonades is merely 2x the point where caffeine intoxication starts, so I’d expect the following symptoms:
And at very high levels of consumption (about 5x of those three lemonades):
None of those are life threatening, unless you have an underlying medical condition that makes you especially sensitive to caffeine. So three large lemonades would give you moderate symptoms, and those would likely go away within hours. The person in the article didn’t die from caffeine overdose, they died from a heart attack, meaning they likely had significant health issues where the high caffeine load pushed their heart too far. If you’ll notice, heart attack isn’t one of the symptoms at all, even with a much higher caffeine load.
Huh, I guess he didn’t have enough to hallucinate! Still enough to experience hearth arrhythmia, though, which can be dangerous (and was fatal in this case)
I gotta be honest, I think he’s stupid for doing this to himself.
I just don’t believe stupid people deserve to die.
Nor do I, but I also don’t think we should restrict everyone just because of some stupid people. As the saying goes:
Put up sufficient warnings, perhaps warn them verbally before purchase, and then let people do what they want, provided it won’t hurt anyone but themselves. Obviously there should be exceptions for when someone is impaired (e.g. a bar), but if they seem to be of sound mind, let adults make their own stupid decisions.
I don’t expect a cashier to know that someone could die when purchasing their product, nor do I think the business is obligated to do anything more than warn when it comes to relatively harmless products like caffeinated beverages.