Sarah Katz, 21, had a heart condition and died hours after she drank Panera’s Charged Lemonade, a large cup of which contains more caffeine than Red Bull and Monster energy drinks combined.
All Panera Bread restaurants are now displaying “enhanced” disclosures about the restaurant chain’s highly caffeinated lemonade, a spokesperson said Saturday, following a lawsuit that was filed by the family of a young woman who died after drinking the beverage.
Monday’s lawsuit, which was first obtained by NBC News, alleges that Sarah Katz, an Ivy League student with a heart condition, died after she drank Panera’s Charged Lemonade last year.
A large Charged Lemonade contains 390 milligrams — nearly the 400-milligram daily maximum of caffeine that the Food and Drug Administration says healthy adults can safely consume.
Their labeling clearly stated the amount of caffeine per 20 and 30 oz cups. Image: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/10/24/paneras-caffeinated-charged-lemonade-blamed-for-college-students-death-in-lawsuit/amp/
I had no opinion until I read this thread.
I’m a person that suffers from addiction to food, for lack of better phrasing. As in, I am currently going to therapy and a nutricionist and have won this battle a few times before.
I usually think sugar laws are BS, but taxes are a way of making things more “balanced without bans”.
850 ml of somethig should not have 14% of its weight come from sugar. That’s insane. No serving of something should contain 124 grams of sugar, except … sugar. You’re basically eating a quarter pounder made of sugar when you’re drinking this. Like, eating an eighth of a 1kg bag of sugar is basically the same thing as drinking this. Holy fuck.
I like coffee, caffeinated drinks, etc etc. I like science and technology and bizarre nutrition (protein powders, BCAAs, etc). I didn’t know what the “safe adult limit” of caffeine was, except that you’d have to drink several cups of coffee extremely quickly. There have been days , especially at uni where I’d drink 3 large energy drinks, and feel my heart react to it and think “yeah, that’s enough”.
The “warning” on the drink is completely contextless and ignoreable. “Oh ok, it’s got caffeine in it, 389mg, wild”. No wonder the woman just grabbed it and went on with her day and died.
Also, it’s a complete waste of advertising potential. If a drink advertises “ALMOST LETHAL AMOUNTS OF CAFFEINE!” you might want to drink it more for that reason, “Charged lemonade” makes it sounds like it’s got a hint of lime in it as well as lemons.