Death By Red Bull
Well, almost.
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.
These kind of stories are very concerning – given that we now have drinks with substantially more caffeine that Red Bull. 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).
Don’t forget all the Taurine either… Red Bull has 1000mg per can. Taurine is something we have little data on.
49 Comments
energy drinks are not so bad if u know how to control ur self I drink one monster every morning.
Energy drinks do not do this. There is much more to the story than this guy is letting on. Crap like this gives energy drinks a bad name. This guy was a motocross racer? He was probably anorexic with previous heart conditions for not eating properly.
Can Red Bull act as blood thinning agent???
I think if u drink soda on a regular basis, like any beverage, it raises ur tolerance to it, i drank 9 red bulls in the span of 45 mins (LITERALLY STOOD THERE ANDCHUGGED 2 4-PACKS AND ONE EXTRA) and couldnt blink for like 10 mins, couldnt focus my eyes, had mini seisures(not really but i was twitchin like crazy) and im a big person
ok i dont think thats all tru cuz i just consumed 5 cans of monster in the last hour and as u can tell im alive and thats 8oo mg of caffeine
I don’t understand any of you guys. Why do you need caffeine at all? Eat right and get enough sleep and you will not feel sleepy during the day. Geez, how stupid!
maybe not everyone drinks caffeine to live. maybe some people just enjoy the taste of energy drinks or maybe like the buzz it gives them. what do you do to have fun? go to other websites and bash other peoples habits too, or is it just here?
I drank 12 redbulls one night after finnishing exams, all mixed with vodka, and then went out and drank jager bombs that same night, which also have red bull in them. I didnt sleep for 2 days and was hypo as hell but, no heart problems or anything. That was my first time on red bull and i never drink coffee or coke. Reading that article after i had done this is scary. I still drink red bull, but only ever about 4 at one time.
JUST SOME FACTS ON CAFFEINE!
Caffeine is a psychoactive drug which stimulates the CNS, and is completely absorbed thru the GL tract and metabolised through the liver. It has a half-life of around 3 hours, which can be doubled if your on the oral contraceptive pill. And takes 45-60 minutes to reach its peak concentration. Caffeine will not thin your blood. It increases blood pressure by about 5-15mmHg SMP and 5-10mmHG DBP. Caffeine is ergogenic particluarly for endurance exercise events and can increase time to exhaustion by 20-50% in events lasting less than 30mins. However it is inversely related to intensity. Caffeine is safe cheap and legal and has never caused a negative performance in sport.
Chronic use of caffeine is related to high blood pressure that can not be resolved by 3 blood pressure medications all at full dose, snoring and cigarette smoking. Pregnant women should not consume caffeine as the infants liver would not be developed enough to metablise the drug. It also can decrease stability and balance which will have an adverse effect on the elderly.
However caffeine is flogged as a magic bullet, no wonder since it is the worlds seconds most traded commodity after OIL!
As someone who is highly sensitive to caffeine this website is very intersting reading. But on this story what is that Taurine stuff they put in Red Bull? It says its an amino acid on the can but that doesn’t make much sense to me.
I love red bull but 8 is CRAZY. No one needs that much and it’s just stupid to use that much in one day.
last weekend i had 5 in about 2 hrs and passed out at a casino no booze in them had to be put on oxygen then released but i blacked out only second timr in my life i drank re bull and last i am 50 yrs old
hmmm at this point i am just curious on how many red bulls it is possible to drink in one day. i have had 8 so far and i have 8 more cans left.
As has been pointed out, it needs to be remembered that Red Bull not only contains caffeine, but loads of sugar and who knows what all kinds of chemicals as well. Drinking 8 Red Bulls would be putting a big load of said sugar and chemicals as well as caffeine in your system at once, and would not be the same as slamming down 8 (black or lightly sweetened) espresso shots.
Earlier I was sleeping but my heart woke me up.
I think its irregular heart beat, I was scared and wanted to do some small researching and I found this place.
I agree with what Jason B says, everyone reacts with everything differently.
So I’m thinking, I gotta see a doctor to see what my limit is right? What do I ask my doctor? How do I approach?
I love red bull, with a passion. I love red bull more than Popeye loves his spinach. It has wonderful function, with a stylistic logo, and grand taste.
Anyways, it’s nice hearing people drink up to 8 cans a day or even a whole 20$’s worth in a day. I don’t drink anywhere near that, but I’m still scared right now.
I drink about 2 a day, on some days I skip cause I don’t want to play out the red bull in my body. I only drink it with purpose too, I been working on a huge project the past 3-4 months…I’m almost finish too so I’d like my heart to stay with me to the end of this project and beyond.
Some one email me back, or comment!
Last new years a buddy and i drank about 9-10 red bulls altogether along with jagermeister (jager bombs) that night neither of us were able to sleep at all! As Andrew stated above i too had an irregular heartbeat and it freaked me the hell out. Red bull is something i learned should be consumed in modesty, especially for those who have a weak heart…
red bull is for exactly the animal it endorses……….if you are a little bunny rabbit,dont have a red bull,if you are a real bull,you will feel fufill’d.
[...] Pues todo esto lo ha comprobado un australiano acostumbrado a tomarse 4 botes diarios, y que un día especial se tomó 8 en 5 horas. Por suerte lograron salvarle la vida. La noticia completa aquí. [...]
i work at a coffee shop.they sell redbul there,and i get half off so i drink anywhere from 8-16 red bulls everyday.i weigh 130lbs,and apparently i have a tolerence to taurine and caffeine.along with the redbull,i take straight shots of expresso which all have 100mg of caffeine in them.therefore i drink about 2000mg of caffeine per day along with 8000-16000 mg of taurine each day.i feel sick as shit if i dont drink mucho water along with this high caffgeine/taurine consumption. my recomendation is for everyone to limit their intake of this potent drinks,and gradually increase your dosage everyday when you start feeling less and less of a buzz.i sleep like a kitten at work too.so drink up bitches.if you die,it doesnt really matter either way because youll be forgotten eventually.so will red bull.so will earth.isnt this a lifting story?i’d say it is.
[...] Death By Red Bull [...]