It doesn't seem to be the caffeine that is beneficial for our needs. And my 12 cups daily spread out over 10-12 hours is way below the dangerous levels.
How Coffee May Protect Brain Health: A New Study Suggests The Benefits Aren't Just From Caffeine
The latest here:
Terrifying medical case reveals what can happen if you overdose on caffeine
Caffeine is the most widely taken
psychoactive stimulant in the world--not to mention the only one that
isn't really regulated anywhere, at least in products like coffee, tea,
and soft/energy drinks.
But while most of us
ingest caffeine in safe, moderated doses, the truth is that in its pure
or concentrated powdered form, caffeine is an extremely powerful
substance that can be dangerous if you take too much.
The FDA warns
that a single teaspoon of caffeine powder is equivalent to
approximately 28 cups of coffee, which helps to explain why the sale of
caffeine powder supplements in bulk form has been banned in both the US and elsewhere.
Those bans came after multiple deaths in recent years tied to caffeine overdoses, leading to mounting concerns over the availability of powdered caffeine.
A new case study
in the UK serves as an alarming refresher on why such concerns and bans
are warranted, showing just what can happen when people swallow massive
amounts of powdered caffeine.
The report, led
by critical care doctor Rebecca Harsten from Queen Elizabeth Hospital
in London, details the experience of a 26-year-old patient who turned up
in emergency about 3 hours after she ingested two heaped teaspoons of
powdered caffeine (approximately 20 grams).
Per
the FDA's reckoning, that puts the dose in the ballpark of 50 to 60
cups of coffee at once, and as Harsten and her co-authors report, it's
more than enough to kill a person.
"Caffeine ingestions of greater than 1–2 g cause significant toxic effects," the researchers write
in their paper. "Fatal caffeine overdoses have occurred following
ingestions of >5 g or with blood caffeine concentrations >80
mg/L."
In this episode, the patient was
incredibly lucky to survive the incident, given doctors recorded a
higher-than-lethal concentration in their first measurement of caffeine
in her blood, which showed caffeine levels reaching 147.1 mg/L at 7
hours into her ordeal.
That was after
treatment had commenced, too, as the team notes, suggesting peak
caffeine concentrations would have probably been even higher before that
point.
Hours earlier, when the woman arrived
at the emergency department, she was experiencing palpitations,
sweating, anxiety, and difficulty breathing. Under examination, doctors
found she had an abnormally rapid heart rate and low blood pressure, and
was experiencing both hyperventilation and vomiting.
An ECG revealed she had a form of abnormal heart rhythm called polymorphic ventricular tachycardia, and tests showed a build-up of acid in her body, called metabolic acidosis, along with respiratory alkalosis (an imbalance of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the blood) and a high count of white blood cells.
The
patient was given a fluid and electrolyte replacement treatment, but as
her condition did not improve, she was moved to intensive care,
sedated, given haemodialysis, and put on a ventilator.
She
was also given an intravenous bicarbonate treatment to correct her
acid-base status, a magnesium sulphate drug to control her arrhythmia,
and activated charcoal to help clear out toxins from her kidneys. A
hormone called norepinephrine (aka noradrenaline) was also given to
combat caffeine's effect on blood pressure.
A
fatty emulsion called intralipid was administered, and not for its usual
purpose as a source of energy and nutrients. In recent years, the
substance has increasingly been used to help remove potentially toxic fat-soluble materials from the body.
The
fact the doctors had so many effects to treat is testament to
caffeine's potential toxicity. At high-enough concentrations, it's a
drug that can upset a broad range of metabolic processes throughout the
body.
Luckily for the woman, this combination
of remedies worked. After 2 days she was extubated, taken off dialysis,
but remained under observation in intensive care for another week. A
month after discharge, her doctors say she was doing well, receiving
support from her family, and engaging with psychiatric care. She also
visited ICU, to thank the team who saved her life.
The researchers note
that while there are no official guidelines on the management of
caffeine overdose, which is ultimately a rare scenario, this case and
others like it suggest that the combination of intralipid and
haemodialysis could "represent a new and viable treatment in
life-threatening caffeine overdose".
The findings are reported in BMJ Case reports.
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