Health experts are warning students to be aware of their caffeine intake during exam season, following the death of a US teenager.
Sixteen-year-old South Carolina student Davis Allen Cripe died last month after drinking a McDonald’s latte, a large Mountain Dew, and an energy drink in less than two hours.
According to Gary Watts, the coroner of Richland County, South Carolina, the way the drinks were ingested, particularly the “chugging of the energy drink at the end” caused cardiac arrhythmia.
Davis collapsed at school and was pronounced dead an hour later.
Dr Marian O’Reilly, chief nutrition specialist at Safefood.eu, said students need to educate themselves on the caffeine content of popular energy drinks before consuming them.
She told the Irish Independent: “Some energy drinks contain up to 17 and a half teaspoons of sugar and have the equivalent of two to three cups of coffee.
“The marketing on these drinks is particularly appealing to kids and have very small warning labels, which are largely ignored.
“Many parents look upon the likes of Red Bull and Monster in the same way as any other fizzy drink, but don’t take into consideration the huge amount of sugar and caffeine in them.”
This Safefood infographic explains what exactly is hiding in that study pick-me-up:
