Caffeine death ?

[LTC8K6]

The arrhythmia is not even definite, though.

It was called a probable arrhythmia by the coroner.

I guess because there is no actual evidence of it, except that his heart stopped?

 

[marplots]

This strikes me as a diagnosis of exclusion. There's no reason to think caffeinated beverages are killing our kids. You can get some idea of what he ingested with a toxicology report, but the amounts given in the article fall in the normal/safe range (in my opinion).

It reminds me of this style of headline: "Kid Dies When Struck by Baseball in the Chest."

The LD50 of caffeine in humans is dependent on individual sensitivity, but is estimated to be about 150 to 200 milligrams per kilogram of body mass or roughly 80 to 100 cups of coffee for an average adult.

Say the kid weighed 50kg (set low to be conservative). That's an LD50 at 200mg X 50 = 10 grams. Not gonna happen with the beverages described. Was he super sensitive to caffeine? Maybe. Stuff happens.

The highlighted phrase lacks justification.

You misparsed the phrasing, although I see where the ambiguity arises.

What is "not gonna happen" is 10 grams of caffeine (regardless of the relationship to LD50) in the beverages listed.

I'd also submit that, unlike many substances, we have pretty good data on caffeine beyond estimates usually available from animal models. These would include news reports on other "extreme" overdoses as well as information from poison control centers. This is very far from an unusual substance for humans to consume, even in large amounts.

For example, a quick look at poison control center data shows (over a 10 year period and more than 50,000 calls), only one recorded death from caffeine overdose. This doesn't tell us the LD50 directly, that would require dosage information, but it does tell us the extreme rarity of any deaths.

I also wanted to see who might have overdosed on caffeine purposefully, but I wasn't able to find much on a quick search. https://www.caffeineinformer.com/a-real-life-death-by-caffeine

 

[Molinaro]

My doctor warned me that caffeine can kill me. Not so much an allergy but how it affects my muscles. I have Malignant Hyperthermia.

My muscles over-react to caffeine (as well as a few other chemicals) resulting in an increase in heat generation. Too much can lead to an attack that can result in core body temperature increasing to 108+ F resulting in death.

It can only be diagnosed via testing muscle tissue sample contraction in solutions of caffeine and halothane.

When asked how much caffeine was dangerous my doctor said that every bit will cause damage to my muscles that will never heal. Over my lifetime the damage will accumulate resulting in greater chronic pain and fatigue.

Any amount could be the bit that triggers an attack.

 

[novaphile]

My doctor warned me that caffeine can kill me. Not so much an allergy but how it affects my muscles. I have Malignant Hyperthermia.

I came to post about exactly this condition.

My ex (and members of her family) have it, and coffee definitely gave her problems. One cup occasionally was OK, but multiple would be a disaster.

A lot of precautions had to be taken for her to have minor surgery.

My first guess when reading the article... Probably the family should be tested.

Often people don't know, until a family member dies under anesthetic.

 

[Molinaro]

My first guess when reading the article... Probably the family should be tested.

My mother was first to be tested and found positive. I then had the test and one brother also tested positive. My other brother just assumes he has it and behaves accordingly. Our children also just assume positive.

Not sure how the test goes these days. When I had it it was surgery under a general anesthetic. They called it a skeletal muscle biopsy. The sample had to be taken from the underside of the quadriceps where the muscle rests against the femur.