A caffeine fix too far

This post is a little different from many of my articles, which have been predominantly about food microbiology.

The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting the death of a young man who dosed his protein shake with caffeine powder.  Natassia Chrysanthos wrote an article published 05:21, Jul 10 2019 about the man who returned home after celebrating New Year's Eve and made a hangover cure/workout shake and added pure caffeine powder.

Strangely, he messaged his friends that the shake tasted awful, but apparently continued to consume it.  He was found dead on the bathroom floor next morning.

Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant and we all know the lift we get from our morning cup of Joe.  There is a number of benefits claimed for consumption of caffeine, but there are downsides.  Caffeine withdrawal is real, particularly if you drink lots of coffee, as your body becomes tolerant of the chemical.  Some people suffer headaches if they stop drinking coffee, probably because of its effect on the blood vessels of the brain.

The Mayo Clinic considers that up to 400 milligrams of caffeins is safe, and this is equivalent to about 4 cups of coffee.  A teaspoonful of pure caffeine is equivalent to about 28 cups of coffee!  An overdose can result in a rapid heartbeat and breathing difficulties, or may cause death due to convulsions or irregular heartbeat.   

According to the FDA, it is practically impossible to measure a safe dose of highly concentrated caffeine using household utensils; the difference between a safe dose and potentially lethal amount is very small.  In this case, the caffeine powder may have been given to the victim without a label.

It's very sad that a young, vibrant young man should die from consuming a home-made energy drink.  We should all be aware that some chemicals that are normally found in foods and beverages can be toxic if consumed in larger amounts.

I've been served some pretty awfull coffee in my time ...

Many people on Twitter are reporting that a pregnant woman in Alberta ordered a latte at a McDonald's but was served a cup containing cleaning fluid.

According to a report on CBC News, this was caused by the coffee machine still being connected to two cleaning solution supply lines, rather than the milk reservoir.  The cleaning chemical was a mixture of citric acid, phosphoric acid, methyl-trimethyl-3, and 2-butoxyethanol.  There is no doubt that ingestion of this material would be harmful.

It's not clear whether the cup contained hot liquid, though if the machine were set to deliver coffee, but connected to a cleaning chemical supply, it's likely that the cup did feel normal, and since it was a takeaway, it would have been fitted with a lid, so gave no indication that it didn't contain latte.

This potentially very dangerous incident gives a lesson:  if you are a pilot, a car driver, or the operator of a food processing machine, the principles are pretty much the same - the pre-start checks must always be conducted before any start and done properly.