An overdose of caffeine was responsible for an April death ruled as accidental by a judge recently
The coroner called it a dangerous dose of caffeine. Michael Bedford, a 23 year British man died back in April after eating spoonfuls of caffeine.
The directions on the bag of caffeine said to take one-sixteenth of what Bedford took, then he chased it down with an energy drink. Immediately, Bedford began throwing up, then he began slurring his words, and finally passed out. He was rushed to a hospital, but died shortly after arriving.
Just last week the death was ruled accidental. The family is blaming the availability of the caffeine online. Several family members spoke up about how cheaply he purchased it and how it needs to be banned.
Toxicologists in the U.S. have said that they are not aware of any cases of caffeine powder overdose, but they say they are concerned as caffeine loaded drinks are on the rise and easily accessible.
Bruce Goldberger, a professor and director of toxicology at the University of Florida College of Medicine, says we have a big problem on our hands because so many of us rely on psychotropic drugs just to get through the day.
Another medical toxicologist, Dr. Robert Hendrickson, said that part of the problem with these drinks is there is no way to know how much stimulant is in each drink. With other ingredients listed such as taurine and guarana, they also have caffeine in them. Since these drinks are so new there is little information on how they are affecting our bodies.
Experts are also concerned with the trend of mixing energy drinks with alcohol, red bull with vodka being one combination. Now they are making and selling drinks those drinks called Four Loko, which recently caused several students at Central Washington University to become extremely ill.
