Death By Red Bull

Have people really died from too many Red Bull Energy Drinks?

We could find no documented cases of death by only Red Bull alone. But, does almost count?

Update: This just in. The first wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against Red Bull.

Brooklyn Man’s Heart Stops After Drinking Red Bull

33-year-old Cory Terry died after he drank a Red Bull shortly after playing basketball. His family is suing Red Bull for 18 million dollars.

Mr. Terry was an avid Red Bull drinker and had been drinking them for many years. His mother claims that he was very healthy and that Red Bull was responsible for his death.

We have no idea how much caffeine he consumed that day, but one can of Red Bull is just 80mg of caffeine. Src .

Man’s Heart Stops After 8 Red Bulls

Australian Matthew Penbross’s heart stopped after consuming 8 Red Bulls within 5 hours.

Fortunately, ambulance officers (paramedics) were able to revive him with a defibrillator.

Penbross (aged 28) was in good health, with no history of heart disease, and regularly consumed 4 Red Bulls per day.

8 cans of Red bull amounts to 640mg of caffeine. A read of the article makes it appear that Penbross was not big on eating properly – so I wonder if he had this on an almost empty stomach.

Penbross was competing in a Motocross event at the time, so I imagine his adrenalin must have been through the roof.

Sweden Investigates 3 Red Bull Deaths

According to ABCNews:

“Swedish officials are investigating the deaths of three young people who are believed to have been drinking Red Bull. Two of the people who died had used Red Bull as a mixer with alcohol, while the third apparently drank several cans of the energy drink after a strenuous workout and later died of massive kidney failure.”

So, two of those people were mixing Red Bull with alcohol (a whole other problem) and the other seems to have had other health issues involved since caffeine isn’t metabolized by the kidneys nor causes kidney failure.

56 Year Old Man Drinks 25 Red Bulls and Suffers a Brain Hemorrhage

According to The Sun, a Brittish man drank 25 cans of Red Bull during a karaoke party. When he awoke the next morning, he went to the ER with a severe headache. The doctors determined that he had suffered a brain hemorrhage.

He almost had a second hemorrhage and has had several ministrokes. He now is saying that Red Bull should be banned.

However, if a person willingly abuses a substance, blame cannot be laid on the substance. He was clearly consuming Red Bull in a way that is not recommended.

Man Drinks 20 Red Bulls and Goes Crazy

This happened a while back but still serves as a good example.

48-year-old Peter Edwards was caught “swerving from side to side” across the road. The police had trouble stopping him – he overtook their car and almost rammed into a truck. He was eventually stopped using a “stinger device” that punctured his tires.

Edwards was later tested and found to be free of any alcohol and drugs.

It turns out he had consumed 20 cans of Red Bull. By the sounds of it, he had been drinking these over the duration of a whole night. By our calculations, that’s about 1.6 grams of caffeine – still a long way off from a lethal dose – but enough to make you go crazy.

Red Bull made this comment:

“there is no added benefit in consuming the product in excessive amounts.”

15 Year Old Hospitalized After Red Bull Overdose

A 15 year-old in the UK was taken to hospital with heart palpitations after drinking eight cans of Red Bull.

Eight cans contain about 640mg of caffeine – which – to be honest, is not a huge amount. Red Bull also contains 1000mg of Taurine, 60mg Glucuronolactone, and 27 grams of sugar per can.

So to get things straight – the overdosing teenager consumed 216 grams of sugar (that’s about 54 teaspoons) along with 8 grams of Taurine.

8 cans in a row of anything isn’t advisable.

It’s time for some folks to rein in the caffeine overdosing.

8 Red Bulls is ridiculous (and expensive) – and by my calculations, this would also mean Penbross downed 216 grams of sugar (that’s more than a whole cup of pure white sugar) and Edwards would have consumed 540 grams. Too much sugar in the blood stream can also have intoxicating as well as deadly side-effects.

Don’t forget all the Taurine either… Red Bull has 1000mg per can. Taurine is something we have little data on.

Red Bull and Lack of Sleep Linked to Man’s Seizures

According to Ottawacitizen.com, a Canadian man began experiencing severe seizures and the doctors are saying that it was triggered by lack of sleep and too much caffeine. The man had been consuming 2 or more cans of Red Bull per day since he was 16 years old (he’s 26 now).

The man has been subject to all kinds of medical tests and doctors can find no other plausible explanation for the seizures. Although the man didn’t die, he was placed in intensive care and was in a coma for 3 days.

These kind of stories are very concerning – given that we now have drinks with substantially more caffeine than Red Bull.