HEALTH COACH - A 16-year-old boy dies after the arrhythmia of caffeine overdose

HEALTH COACH -

 A 16-year-old boy dies after the arrhythmia of caffeine overdose  



 


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A 16-year-old boy died of a caffeine overdose after consuming carbonated drinks loaded with caffeine, coffee and an energy drink, a coroner said on Monday of South Carolina.



Davis Allen Cripe collapsed and died last month, said Richland County Coroner Gary Watts at a press conference.



"On that particular day in the two hours before his death, we know that he had consumed a great Mountain Dew diet, a McDonald's milk café and also a type of energy drink," said Watts .



"That was so much caffeine at the time of his death that he caused his arrhythmia."



Last month, researchers said that energy drinks can cause dangerous changes in heart function and blood pressure beyond caffeine alone. Another team found similar dangers in 2015.



"These drinks can be very dangerous," Watts said. "I say my friends and family do not drink them."



  
 In this undated family photo, Davis Cripe, 16, is shown with his father Sean. According to a coroner, Cripe died on April 26, 2017 from a "caffeine-induced cardiac event, with a likely arrhythmia." 



Watts, who is not a doctor, did not give details on how he found that the drinks killed Cripe. He said he did not know what kind of energy drink, Cripe drank.



"The goal here today is not to drop Mountain Dew, not to slam the coffees or energy drinks. But what we want to do is to make people understand that These drinks - that amount of caffeine, how it is ingested, can have disastrous consequences And that 's what happened in this case, "said Watts.



"This was not a car accident that took its life. Instead, it was an energy drink," said boy's father Sean Cripe at the press conference.



"Parents, please speak to your children about these energy drinks."



The Food and Drug Administration stated that caffeine at doses up to 400 mg (about five cups of coffee) is generally safe.





Caffeine causes the release of natural compounds called catecholamines, including norepinephrine, a stress hormone that can accelerate heart rate. Individuals who have died from excessive doses of documented caffeine have irregular and rapid heart rates, convulsions and sometimes blocked by their own vomiting.



A 12-ounce mountain dew contains 54 milligrams of caffeine. McDonald's does not report the amount of caffeine in his coffee.



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