You remember how your Mom always told you "Don't drink so much caffeine...it's bad for your health?" And you were always like "Mom, that's not true."
Well, in a scary turn of events in Spring Hill, South Carolina, that turned out to be true.
16-year old David Cripe passed away from what doctors are calling a "caffeine-induced cardiac event" after consuming a large Diet Mountain Dew, a caffe latte, and an unspecified energy drink all within a 2-hour period.
Not only the amount of caffeine, but the pace at which he drank it, forced an arrhythmia that shut down his body.
The FDA believes that 400 milligrams of caffeine is a safe amount to drink daily without negative effects. While Mountain Dew has just 91 milligrams of caffeine and the coffee is likely somewhere in the same ballpark, the energy drink is what could have put him over the edge. Most energy drinks contain between 6 and 240 milligrams of caffeine per serving...but larger cans contain more than 1 serving.
It's believed that Davis "shotgunned" the energy drink, which means he possibly consumed around 500 caffeine in a 15-minute period.
While occurrences like this are rare and medical professionals are calling it a "perfect storm", it's a big warning sign for those of us who are addicted to our coffee/soda/energy drink each day.