Sarah Katz, 21, had a heart condition and was not aware of the drink’s caffeine content, which exceeded that of cans of Red Bull and Monster energy drinks combined, according to a legal filing

  • Orionza
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    2578 months ago

    I hope this lawsuit forces them to remove this. I’m sorry this young girl died. This isn’t the first issue they had with this drink. My husband and I were discussing it months ago. He thought it was just lemonade - sugar, water, lemons. We didn’t figure out why he was up all night. Later someone old him how much caffeine it has. We had no idea. It’s dangerous to those with high bp.

    • @Salamendacious@lemmy.worldOP
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      1268 months ago

      I’m not going to lie when I first read the headline I thought this was probably a frivolous lawsuit but after reading the article I thought that stuff should get pulled.

      • FoundTheVegan
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        1318 months ago

        It’s like that McDonald’s hot coffee lawsuit. Poor lady was made a mockery of for ordering hot coffee because it sounds ridiculous at first but she had 2nd degree burns. It was recklessly hot, as was this drink recklessly produced and marketed.

        • @mosiacmango@lemm.ee
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          8 months ago

          3rd degree groin burns that required grafts.

          She initially asked for just 20k to cover her medical bills, and they instead offered like $800.

          Also of note, that huge 2.7mil fine the jury found? Just the profits from 2 days of McDonald’s coffee sales. The judge reduced it to $650k, but even that likely wasent paid as they settled out of court at that point.

          • @ArtVandelay@lemmy.world
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            658 months ago

            It was also discovered that McDonald’s was aware of the danger of serving their coffee that hot, yet they continued to do so because it meant they had to give fewer free refills. If you have to wait 20 minutes for your coffee to cool down before you drink it, you’re going to get less refills overall

            • @Misconduct@startrek.website
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              218 months ago

              The worst part of that is knowing they probably determined it’s cheaper to settle injuries than keep it at the temps they were supposed to. I know corporations are soulless money making machines but that always feels extra dark to think about

              • @jarfil@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                corporations are soulless money making machines

                The worst part: Corporations are run by people, people hired to do a job, people who can say “fuck no, I’m not doing this evil thing for a couple bucks of a raise”… but eventually some people get hired who will do that evil thing, even with no raise.

                Remember Google’s “don’t be evil”? Eventually they hired enough people who don’t care, that they could remove the slogan.

            • JohnEdwa
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              58 months ago

              IIRC their explanation was for take away, keeping the coffee hotter so it would last until you got home.

            • @SheDiceToday@eslemmy.es
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              28 months ago

              I thought the specific wording in their documentation was because they wanted the smell of the coffee to fill the restaurant. Did McDonald’s give refills of coffee?

        • Hillock
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          198 months ago

          The McDonald’s lady’s case blew up because the jury slapped McDonald’s with huge punitive damages. If she would have gotten the 10-30k she asked for initially or even just the 125k for actual damages no one would care about the case. But the 2.7 million in punitive damages just make this lawsuit seem frivolous. But she had no control over that.

          And IIRC one big reason why she won was because the cups weren’t suited for holding such hot liquid. The temperature of coffee didn’t decrease in McDonald’s after the lawsuit.

        • DreamButt
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          148 months ago

          Funny you should mention that. I use to work for the franchise owner who’s brother-in-law (who also worked for the franchise) gave that woman the cup of coffee (or so he would say) when they were franchising with McDonalds. And guess where I was working at the time? Panera

          • @Fester@lemm.ee
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            118 months ago

            It should be brewed at 195-205 F, just a bit higher than McDonalds served it.

            But normally it would quickly cool down after it’s brewed. Any burning from reaching that temp is from a hot plate exceeding the temp and burning the bits of oil and soot that are in contact with the plate. Water, and I assume coffee, can’t be heated above boiling at 212 F anyway, but the hot plate and carafe or urn parts can, and steam can, and oil can.

            Anyway I’m just saying it would be reasonable for fresh and good-tasting coffee to be in that temperature range. But it’s only going to stay there for any length of time if it’s burned on a hot plate or, more ideally, dripped directly into an insulated container.

            It’s more likely their coffee tastes like shit because it was badly roasted, ground months ago, has since gone stale and bitter, and is full of unnecessary added chemicals and preservatives, just like the rest of their shit food.

      • @assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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        18 months ago

        I don’t think they’re legally liable after what I’ve read through and personally experienced – but I absolutely don’t think this is a frivolous lawsuit. It’s still worth merit when it comes to signage and frankly medical testing.

        The biggest problem is that she drank it without knowing the heart condition. We need to have better detection and screening to make sure people know this.

        • @Salamendacious@lemmy.worldOP
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          38 months ago

          From the article:

          Katz had a heart condition called long QT syndrome type 1 and avoided energy drinks at the recommendation of her doctors, according to the filing.

          her roommate and close friend, Victoria Rose Conroy [said,] “She was very, very vigilant about what she needed to do to keep herself safe,” Conroy said. “I guarantee if Sarah had known how much caffeine this was, she never would have touched it with a 10-foot pole.”

    • Cethin
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      538 months ago

      I don’t mind it existing as a product. If it does though it should be very clearly labeled with warnings that are impossible to miss. This seems great for Panaras on college campuses, but there should be no possibility you confuse it for something else.

    • @AA5B@lemmy.world
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      198 months ago

      Yeah, I also wasn’t aware. I imagine there were signs, but who looks for the caffeine content of lemonade? In my case I just had a dash t flavor soda, so I didn’t notice until my kid pointed it out

      Similarly, when my kids were little, I kept them away from stimulants, but who expects to have to prohibit lemonade for the caffeine hit?

      • @JoBo@feddit.uk
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        308 months ago

        What very clear, explicit label?

        The Charged Lemonade was “offered side-by-side with all of Panera’s non-caffeinated and/or less caffeinated drinks” and was advertised as a “plant-based and clean” beverage that contained as much caffeine as the restaurant’s dark roast coffee, according to photos of both the menu and beverage dispensers in the store, which were included in the wrongful death lawsuit.

        • @Psythik@lemm.ee
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          88 months ago

          Forget the article; go to an actual Panera. The amount of caffeine is clearly labeled right under the name of the drink. To be fair, their drinks contain way too much, but you can’t say that they don’t already make the label clear and easy to interpret. People are idiots who don’t read the label beyond the “lemonade” part.

        • @candybrie@lemmy.world
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          58 months ago

          contained as much caffeine as the restaurant’s dark roast coffee

          That part. Though I don’t think people realize how much caffeine is in their dark roast coffee. Because it is more caffeine than multiple energy drinks for the same volume. There’s a reason a standard cup of coffee is like 6 oz instead of 20 oz.

          • @jimbo@lemmy.world
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            18 months ago

            Who’s serving up coffee in 6oz cups? Starbucks and most other coffee places have standard sizes of 12, 16, and 20oz.

            • @candybrie@lemmy.world
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              Standard isn’t what people drink. It’s what the nutrition label on the package and medical guidelines are generally talking about, though. When the FDA says 4-5 cups of coffee is safe for most adults, they don’t mean 48-100oz of coffee.

              But as to who makes 6 oz cups? When you make coffee yourself, the cups on the coffee maker are 6 oz.

    • @CaptPretentious@lemmy.world
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      Sorry but no. If we just arbitrarily remove products because someone managed to die because of it… We literally won’t have anything.

  • FoundTheVegan
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    8 months ago Food Theroy did agreat video on this. It’s very appropriately titled given the unfortunate circumstances. To say this drink was caffeineted is a major understatement, it was basically four and a half monsters in one cup.

    Franky, it was reckless for Panera to make and sell this drink and they absolutely earned this lawsuit. There was pently of forewarning that the abnormally high caffeine content in this was dangerous for certain groups. Hope the family wins big, nothing will bring back their loved one but this could’ve been avoided with more clear nutrientional warnings.

    f u panera

    • Ghostalmedia
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      628 months ago

      Why is quadruple Monster even on the menu of a restaurant that is mostly famous for soup?

      • @HeyJoe@lemmy.world
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        308 months ago

        Because they feel the need to pivot and try to extract more money and bring in other types of people by offering more options for everything. To bad it’s all garbage, and very overpriced.

        Maybe I am wrong, but there is no way this place can sustain itself with the prices they charge and the drop in quality they now offer compared to early 2000’s.

        • @CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world
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          88 months ago

          Agreed, I stopped eating there 5-6 years ago after another shrinkflation update to their menu ruined my favorite sandwich. Haven’t missed the place.

        • Cethin
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          48 months ago

          There was one on campus at my university. I almost never ate there, but it was always pretty popular. This drink seems like it’s designed for that. Get a cup of this stuff and drink it over the course of a long day/night and it’d be fine. Mistaking it for just lemonade, or even a regular caffienated drink, is a huge mistake that should never have been able to happen. There should be clear warnings and labels.

        • @Resonosity@lemmy.ca
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          48 months ago

          They did have quality in the early 2000s, remember my grandma taking us their for their awesome bread. Sad to see it enshittify

    • @AA5B@lemmy.world
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      478 months ago

      The other thing is, these drinks are in the same dispensers, the same location, that used to have regular juices. Even assuming the signs were there, it’s set up for no one to pay attention

    • z500
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      At 390 mg, it’s more like 2½ Monsters. For some people (me) that’s just Tuesday

    • @jimbo@lemmy.world
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      38 months ago

      I don’t understand how it’s reckless to serve something that 99.99% of the population will never have any significant health problem with, even if they drank double or triple the amount this girl did.

    • @lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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      18 months ago

      Good lord. I drank like half a red bull once and felt like I was going to die… Why would anyone even want to consume that much…

    • @oxjox@lemmy.ml
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      558 months ago

      You mean like how Panera Bread does?
      https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:eco,dpr_2.0/rockcms/2023-10/231017-panera-bread-charged-lemonade-al-1019-f1a04a.jpg

      The Charged Lemonade was “offered side-by-side with all of Panera’s non-caffeinated and/or less caffeinated drinks” and was advertised as a “plant-based and clean” beverage that contained as much caffeine as the restaurant’s dark roast coffee, according to photos of both the menu and beverage dispensers in the store, which were included in the wrongful death lawsuit. https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/app/product/57f9b1aa54df4bd2c2eacca55efa1c96.html

      Not to disagree with you, you’re right, but I think they should also indicate how much is normal consumption. It’s quite surprising this isn’t something that’s required on the nutritional label.

      • Lemminary
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        they should also indicate how much is normal consumption

        For real, this is the actual problem. How much does 390 mg of caffeine even mean to the average person? For reference, one of those 20 oz drinks are almost equivalent to 3 cups of regular black coffee.

        • @zeppo@lemmy.world
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          58 months ago

          I’m pretty familiar with the mg amounts based on reading soda labels. That would be 11 glasses of Diet Pepsi, which does sound like a lot.

              • Kogasa
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                18 months ago

                Yeah. 11 cans of Pepsi has about as much caffeine (412.5mg) as 2 medium hot coffees from Dunkin Donuts (210mg per 14oz).

        • @CaptFeather@lemm.ee
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          38 months ago

          100mg of caffeine for an 8oz cup of coffee is pretty widely known. I would argue it’s up to the individual with the medical conditions to know exactly how much caffeine they are consuming vs how much is safe for them to consume.

          After reading the article it makes it seem like she went to a physical location to get the drink, which has a placard on the dispenser stating exactly how much caffeine is in the drink. Shit, it even states she also got the drink a few days before she died so she had to have known it had a lot of caffeine in it. The only thing that makes sense here is I’m wondering if she ordered it for pickup and the online menu doesn’t have all of this written out clearly. If that’s the case then Panera needs to update that ASAP.

          • Lemminary
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            158 months ago

            100mg of caffeine for an 8oz cup of coffee is pretty widely known

            I wouldn’t count on it

      • @zeppo@lemmy.world
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        98 months ago

        I’m kind of confused by the “it should be labeled!” comments as to me, that is decently labeled. The descriptions say “coffee” and “guarana” for each one, and listing the amounts of caffeine is more information than you get for other drinks. It’s not too much to think that the customer (especially someone with a life threatening condition) would read the descriptions.

        • Kogasa
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          18 months ago

          Last time I got this drink it was self-serve, yeah. The drinks are in large labelled containers, not like a soda fountain with just a small logo.

    • @Ozymati@lemmy.nz
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      78 months ago

      Agreed. Some of us are careful about how much caffeine we ingest because we want it to work when we use it, and/or because we get real twitchy when overcaffeinated.

  • @jandar_fett@lemmy.world
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    518 months ago

    Reporting in after having just come from Panera due to this article. Didn’t read article, and it might be click bait or might not. I do know that the drink in question is slapped right beside all the typical juices and sodas, and the label says “contains as much as our dark roast coffee” then below that, even less obvious it gives serving sizes & caffeine amounts. Call me crazy, but I doubt your average consumer is going to consider just how much caffeine might be in LEMONADE.

    Panera is definitely losing this one. It could even be argued that they chose a product with that much caffeine and to not really advertise it based on the amounts of caffeine of the 30oz literally being a hair’s width away from the potential danger threshold.

    • @cybersandwich@lemmy.world
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      258 months ago

      My biggest question is what is the market for this? Who is like: I really want a lemonade but I want it to have more caffeine than a redbull! It seems like such a weird product in general.

      If you want caffeine and you are at a bakery, you are going to get a coffee or tea. If you are at a bakery and want lemonade, you probably aren’t trying to get ‘charged’ or else youd just get a coffee or tea.

      • DrMango
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        68 months ago

        You can’t believe that people would want heroic doses of sugar and caffeine, two of the most available addictive substances on the market?

        Also a lot of people don’t like the taste of coffee or tea

      • @SCB@lemmy.world
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        I’m basically the target audience for this and I’d never heard of it

        Agreed that it is a very weird product to just kinda… have

      • Muddybulldog
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        48 months ago

        There’s still a large number of us wondering wtf the market for Red Bull is. I want a drink with the flavor and consistency of watered down Stretch Armstrong guts with more caffeine than anything that has ever existed. It seems like such a weird product in general.

        • @argarath@lemmy.world
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          48 months ago

          I’m apparently one of the few people that actually like the taste of redbull, but talking about market, redbull is all about giving people energy, be it real or not is another thing, people buy it when they want to party all night long, when they need to study for a test and don’t want to fall asleep or whatever else related to energy (or just because they like the taste like me lol) so the market does exist.

          And since taste was talked about, I absolutely hate the taste of beer and especially those high hop content ones, but they’re incredibly popular, what’s up with that?

      • Schadrach
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        28 months ago

        Who is like: I really want a lemonade but I want it to have more caffeine than a redbull!

        It doesn’t have more caffeine than a red bull per unit volume. But yes, if you compare the largest size to one can of red bull it will win out. So will drinking a similar volume of coffee.

        And I’d guess the market for it is people who want coffee levels of caffeine but don’t like the taste of coffee or the citrus battery acid taste of energy drinks.

    • Kogasa
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      The 30oz size has 390mg caffeine. The FDA says 400mg a day is not generally associated with harmful effects for adults without heart conditions etc. If the FDA says up to 400mg is fine, I don’t think it’s fair to call that the “danger threshold.” That’s like calling the speed limit the “danger threshold.” It’s set there for a reason, but you don’t go from “no adverse effects” to “danger” as soon as you cross the line.

      It’s advertised as having the same amount of caffeine as their coffee. 30oz of coffee is a pretty significant amount. Not typically dangerous, but hardly something you can drink by accident.

        • Kogasa
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          58 months ago

          Most people normally don’t drink their caffeine over a 24 hour period. Maybe a couple hours. The half-life of caffeine in the body being about 5 hours, the peak concentration of caffeine won’t be that much higher. Note the FDA doesn’t say “400mg is safe but only if you don’t drink it all at once.

    • Karyoplasma
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      If you sell a 30oz container, you should have to label the amount of shit that is in that container instead of making up your own, cockamamie “serving size” that does not relate to real-world situations whatsoever.

    • @Bort@lemmy.world
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      I don’t think they will lose. It clearly states charged lemonade which most people will understand means caffinated. Even if you don’t know that means caffinated it has lettering that is more than large enough that states it has caffeine as well as the amount. It is so apparent that this is caffinated and just as apparent how much it is. It sucks this lady died but either she is also blind as a bat or she decided to gamble and drink it.

      • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】
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        The warning has to be reasonable for its purpose. Intended and likely to reach the consumer, and to be understood. It’s meant to fairly apprise consumers of the material risks.

        There is nothing resembling a warning. That’s fine if it’s just regular lemonade. It seems to me to be positioned as basically regular lemonade and otherwise indistinguishable except for “charged,” “# mg caffiene,” and “natural ingredients.”

        This information seems inadequate based on the seriousness and likelihood of the material risk. The girl’s condition is apparently pretty common, the seriousness of the danger is deathly, and the likelihood that consumers in the girl’s position are as likely as not to understand the danger. More is required.

        The average consumer does not know about dosages of caffeine in milligrams, and possible side effects. The labeling seems hardly likely to inform a consumer that one glass of lemonade they are about to drink is the equivalent of drinking three cups of coffee. Who the fuck puts caffiene into lemonade? Is it even lemonade?

        Edit: speech to text has gotten worse lately. Also, I have to wonder whether anyone asked for this product? I wonder what the focus groups said. Did they even do them? The more I think of this the worse the idea seems.

        • Schadrach
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          08 months ago

          The sign says outright that it has as much caffeine as coffee. If drinking an amount of coffee would be too much, drinking that much charged lemonade would be roughly equally too much.

          Also, apparently she had a medical condition that meant she shouldn’t be consuming large amounts of caffeine. And she ordered and consumed a large amount of caffeine. That’s what killed her.

          This is akin to arguing that a restaurant is responsible if someone with a shellfish allergy orders the shrimp.

            • Schadrach
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              18 months ago

              More than you get from one lemonade, for a healthy person. Not much less than the FDA recommended maximum per day if we’re talking about the largest size, but the gap between “maximum recommended” and overdose is a reasonable bit. If you’ve ever known someone to drink more than four cups of coffee, or as many energy drinks (or as few as 2 for certain brands), you’ve known someone who exceeded the recommended maximum. You have to go a fair bit past it to have acute issues if you are otherwise healthy.

              If you have a medical condition that restricts your diet, it is on you to know what you can and cannot have and on the restaurant to make it clear when something unexpected might contain the thing. I’d argue Panera, by analogizing the amount of caffeine to an equivalent volume of coffee and also giving the explicit numerical amount in each size the drink was offered in did that.

              Imagine someone suing a restaurant because they ordered a dish that contains shellfish and they have a shellfish allergy. The menu spelled out that it contained shrimp, but how is anyone supposed to know that shrimp is shellfish?

                • Schadrach
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                  18 months ago

                  180mg/L of blood. How much this requires ingesting is not well studied, but based on known cases is at least 5g, possibly 10g or more for a typical adult. FDA recommended maximum is 400mg.

  • @A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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    478 months ago

    I drank a monster energy once (well, to be precise, about half of one.),back when energy drinks were still relatively new and there wasnt as much common knowledge about them as there is today.

    Just that half of a can was enough to make me feel like I was going to die.

    My resting heart rate was over 150bpm, was shaking with tremors, and cold sweating. I genuinely thought I was gonna die.

    And I have never so much as touched another one, and will never touch another one, for the rest of my life.

    They are incredibly dangerous and shouldnt be something any kid or idiot can walk into a store and buy with couple bucks.

    and I have absolutely no idea how there are people that exist out there that can drink 6-10 of them a day without spontaneously combusting from tremor induced cellular friction.

    • @Stuka@lemmy.ml
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      They are not incredibly dangerous, not be a long shot.

      They can be dangerous to a very small subset of people with preexisting conditions and that’s about it.

      • Echo Dot
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        The trouble is quite a lot of people have the pre-existing condition of being brainless. So they mainline 5 cans in a row, if you do that with Coke nothing happens, if you do that with Monster even a healthy person is going to have heart problems.

        Also some prat had a great idea of mixing it with Yeager. Thus mixing two of the most disgusting liquids in the world together. But more importantly mixing a stimulant and a suppressant, which again can have serious health risks even for otherwise healthy individuals.

        We don’t sell glue to children even though most of them probably won’t sniff it. So why do we tolerate energy drinks for them? The lasting kids need is to be even more hyper.

        • @afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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          18 months ago

          Mine is cannabis and booze. Never mix something that makes me want to throw up with something that settles the stomach. If I drink too much I want it out of my body ASAP.

        • @sploosh@lemmy.world
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          98 months ago

          Is it not credible that a small slice of people might be extra sensitive to something that the rest of the population can handle without issue?

        • OKRainbowKid
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          98 months ago

          By that logic, peanuts are also “incredibly dangerous”.

          Note: I’m not promoting or condoning the consumption of energy drinks, they are generally unhealthy. But calling them “incredibly dangerous” because they can evoke such a reaction in a small subset of the population is bullshit.

          • @Quexotic
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            08 months ago

            And products are often labeled, not if they CONTAIN nuts, but even if they were made somewhere that also produces peanuts and there’s a slight chance of cross contamination.

            This is done because of the liability. It should be easy enough to prove the Panera has liability here in the same way.

            • @CaptFeather@lemm.ee
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              58 months ago

              It clearly states the caffeine content on the placard in front of the drink though, and it’s called charged lemonade. While that wouldn’t necessarily imply it has caffeine, that’s at least enough to tell me it’s almost certainly not plain lemonade though and I should read what’s in it.

          • @A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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            Thats a stupid as fuck argument.

            Know whats on the label, and in fact, in the name, of peanut butter/peanut products?

            Peanuts

            and they even still have a specific warning, for extra special stupid people, that says “warning, contains peanuts”

            What was on the label of Charged Lemonaid? Of Monster?

            No Indicators, No Warnings, No nothing.

            Miss me with this bullshit false equivalency.

            • @Jaigoda@lemmy.world
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              108 months ago

              You clearly didn’t read the article, or actually look at basically any energy drink can. The label of the charged lemonade does in fact list exactly how much caffeine is in each drink, as well as stating it contains as much caffeine as their dark roast coffee.

              And Googling the label on a Monster Energy Drink can, there is a label stating that the total caffeine content is 120mg with a warning recommending against consumption by children or those sensitive to caffeine.

            • @ChronosWing@lemmy.zip
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              78 months ago

              Both Monster and the Charged lemonade have labels that say “contains caffeine” you know if you had a heart problem and your doctor said not to consume large amounts of caffeine maybe you would read that label just like the peanuts.

    • @Commiunism@lemmy.wtf
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      188 months ago

      I’m guessing that every person is different when it comes to energy drink tolerance, or there might be some underlying conditions. Back when I used to drink energy drinks, I wouldn’t really feel anything except for maybe feeling a bit more “energetic” but I’m not sure how much of that is placebo. Granted, I wouldn’t drink 6-10 cans a day because I don’t think they taste that good, and would only drink a can occasionally.

      • @Default_Defect@midwest.social
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        38 months ago

        Yeah, it seems for every person like the above with, I assume, a sensitivity to caffeine, there’s my friend from high school that pounded 3 BFC Monsters (32 oz each) and went to the next class like nothing happened.

        • @June@lemm.ee
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          68 months ago

          It’s not really the caffeine that’s the problem in most energy drinks. It actually has less caffeine than a typical cup of coffee. It’s the addition of things like guarana, taurine, niacin, and ginseng that make them problematic for many. The high amounts of sugar in most can have pretty negative effects too.

          • @Default_Defect@midwest.social
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            38 months ago

            Fair enough, caffeine aside, my point is the same. Some people look at an energy drink and begin vibrating and other need to drink it like water to feel an effect at all.

      • Echo Dot
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        18 months ago

        I had one can because we’re really overworked at work and I felt terrible and ended up being really useless. And this was when I was in my 30s so I wasn’t exactly some small kid

        I have no issue with coffee so it’s not caffeine that’s the problem, it’s something else that’s in the drinks. I even have had caffeine pills and not had that reaction.

    • Kogasa
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      78 months ago

      Half a monster is 43mg caffeine. About as much as a Pepsi, or less than 3oz of Dunkin Donuts coffee (a small is 180mg at 10oz). I’m not at all saying you’re lying about your experience, but what you are describing is an extreme caffeine sensitivity (or a reaction to something else).

    • @blue_zephyr@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      I used to chug multiple of those on the way home from school and didn’t feel a thing. I think we lose much resilience with age.

      • @A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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        48 months ago

        I am not, and was not, sensitive to caffeine in any way.

        Hell, that can be proven just by the embarrassingly large amount of Mountain Dew I drank a day during that era of my life, which had absolutely zero effect on me.

    • @DillyDaily@lemmy.world
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      58 months ago

      I have absolutely no idea how there are people that exist out there that can drink 6-10 of them a day without spontaneously combusting from tremor induced cellular friction.

      A few years ago my doctor put me on beta blockers to try and manage my migraines. My blood pressure was always within healthy limits, usually around 110/70, on the beta blockers it dropped a little bit, but nothing drastic. My heart rate on the other hand?

      Resting, it was 41-45 bmp, sitting and fidgeting it was 54-58bpm, and walking around it was 65-73. I’d have to really push hard at the gym to get it to 100 and it would drop back down so suddenly when I stopped I’d often get blue lips when doing cool down stretches.

      My fingers and toes were always blue, I had chilblains in the middle of the summer.

      When I asked my doctor if I should try Alpha Blockers because they don’t effect your heart he said “just drink a can of redbull 3-4 times a day”

      So that’s what I did.

      It wasn’t until I changed doctors and she asked me about my tea and coffee habits that it fully dawned on me just how much caffeine I was having.

      I completely forgot tea has caffeine, I’d have 5-8 cups a day, plus 3 no-doze pills, 2 red bulls and a ristretto on most work days. On weekends I’d have 3-4 teas, 2-3 red bulls, 2 coffees and a caffeine based pre-workout.

      My resting heart rate during all this was about 58bpm…and I slept like a log.

      Anyway, my new doctor was horrified and I’m on alpha blockers now. Still no migraines, I’ve had to cut out everything caffeinated except 3 cups of tea a day, my resting heart rate is 67bpm…but now I have orthostatic hypotension which kinda sucks. Not as bad as taking trucker crack just so my he would remember to beat. I also struggle with intermittent bouts of insomnia now, which is weird.

      • @jandar_fett@lemmy.world
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        28 months ago

        I, too am horrified that an actual doctor with a doctorate in medicine would suggest that a patient pound multiple energy drinks instead of I dunno, using medicine that you even suggested.

      • Echo Dot
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        118 months ago

        Maybe he is, but he just hasn’t come down from the high yet.

      • @Zetta@mander.xyz
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        58 months ago

        Same, caffeine content aside it’s like 100 grams in sugar every day from energy drinks. Gross

  • @jordanlund@lemmy.world
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    418 months ago

    Just looking at the photo in the article, it looks clear to me how much caffeine is in it:

    Unclear if that’s a “before” or “after” photo though.

    • @jonne
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      698 months ago

      If I saw that, I wouldn’t really have any idea how much 260mg of caffeine is, compared to your average espresso shot. IMHO there probably should be some kind of upper limit to the amount of caffeine you can put in a drink (or at least be forced to call it something other than ‘lemonade’).

      • @glimse@lemmy.world
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        318 months ago

        Yeah I doubt most coffee/tea/soda drinkers could tell you how much caffeine is in their drinks. 260mg means nothing to me without a baseline

            • @Krauerking@lemy.lol
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              No, it’s really just insane how much caffeine they put in this Panera bread lemonade.

              Like seriously this is like drinking 4 energy drinks, literally more caffeine than a 5 hour energy shot and that’s at the small size. This is a horrifying amount of caffeine that they think people are drinking.

              Edit: did the math because why not and drinking the 30 fl oz is like taking a 10 hour energy.

      • @hotdaniel@lemmy.zip
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        -78 months ago

        Help me understand how much 260mg of caffeine is by comparing it to standard caffinated drinks

        Searching for: caffeine content of common drinks

        Generating answers for you…

        Sure, I can help you with that. According to the Mayo Clinic1, the caffeine content of common drinks can vary depending on the type, brand, and brewing method. Here are some examples of how much caffeine is in different drinks, based on the average values from various sources2345:

        A 12-ounce (355 mL) can of cola has about 34-44 mg of caffeine. A 12-ounce (355 mL) can of energy drink has about 71.9 mg of caffeine. An 8-ounce (237 mL) cup of brewed black coffee has about 80-150 mg of caffeine. An 8-ounce (237 mL) cup of brewed green tea has about 30 mg of caffeine. A 2-ounce (60 mL) shot of energy shot has about 215 mg of caffeine. So, if you consume 260 mg of caffeine, that is equivalent to:

        About 6 to 8 cans of cola About 3 to 4 cans of energy drink About 2 to 3 cups of brewed black coffee About 9 to 10 cups of brewed green tea About one shot of energy shot I hope this helps you understand how much caffeine is in different drinks. Remember, the FDA recommends no more than 400 mg of caffeine per day for most adults. Too much caffeine can cause side effects such as insomnia, anxiety, and high blood pressure. So, drink responsibly and enjoy your caffeinated beverages in moderation. 😊

      • @jordanlund@lemmy.world
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        28 months ago

        That’s a super good question, it’s not clear, but it’s also not clear if that’s how she bought the drink.

      • ℛ𝒶𝓋ℯ𝓃
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        8 months ago

        Edit: Yes, it’s visible. No, I don’t think it’s a good idea. Fuck corporate Panera, sue away. If it hurts our wages we’ll just protest corporate.

    • @wahming@monyet.cc
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      158 months ago

      How visible is that sign from the order counter? Also, visually handicapped customers would have no idea.

    • @CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social
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      8 months ago

      To be fair, the average person is probably not going to really know how much caffeine is a lot of caffeine if you just give them the number, and the fact that people usually drink higher volumes of lemonade than dark coffee might lead to confusion as well. Plus, people don’t generally expect caffeine in lemonade, so it’s easy to imagine someone just going for the big flavor label and just figuring the smaller stuff is just nutrition labels and ignoring it.

      I’m not really sure the best way to label this, it doesn’t seem like a great product idea at all tbh, but given the combination of potentially dangerous amounts of caffeine and it being a product one wouldn’t normally expect to contain any, I’d think that the labelling should be set up in a way as to be impossible to make assumptions about or ignore. Like, make it as big as the flavor label, in a box of a different color usually used for warnings like red or bright orange or something, and mention that the quantity of caffeine involved can be dangerous to those sensitive in addition to just the number.

      • @brognak@lemm.ee
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        88 months ago

        As a caffeine fiend and energy drink afficianado, holy fucking shit that an obnoxious amount of caffeine in a fountain drink imo

        I’m with you, this needs to be sold individually in cans not free pourable.

      • @Jaigoda@lemmy.world
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        68 months ago

        If you have a heart condition or generally just a high sensitivity to caffeine, it’s pretty important to know how much is a lot. The vast majority of people do not have any serious issues consuming 300mg or so of caffeine, so putting a bunch of big scary labels on this stuff just seems like overkill. For example, if you have a peanut allergy, it’s generally on you to check the allergen list in the fine print, or if you have Celiac disease, you need to either buy stuff specifically labeled gluten-free or confirm with a restaurant, manufacturer, etc.

        The fact that all of their signs have not just one, but three separate indicators (“charged”, as much caffeine as coffee, and the specific caffeine amount) for anyone who might have a sensitivity is enough to show Panera’s due diligence in my opinion.

        I do get your point that people wouldn’t automatically assume there’s caffeine in Panera’s random juice drinks, but caffeine is absolutely everywhere right now. I’d personally love for caffeine to be required to be listed in the nutrition label of drinks (or food that contains it) so you would know how much is in a Mountain Dew or Coke. But until that happens, I don’t see how Panera could be seen as liable in this situation.

      • @jimbo@lemmy.world
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        18 months ago

        400mg of caffeine is not potentially dangerous unless you’re one of the unlucky few people who have a heart condition. Even then, people with heart conditions aren’t necessarily dropping dead because they drank some caffeine.

    • @Sarmyth@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      88 months ago

      That’s how it was signed every time I’ve been into a Panera. They’ve been catering to the study crowd (and remote workers) for a while now. Before the pandemic, it was common to see the Panera bread near the college full til closing with people having coffee and using the wifi.

      Saying they didn’t know it was cafinated feels like a failing on their part. The “charged” part of the name made me assume it at first sight , myself.

    • @June@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      Needs to be bigger and brighter imo. It looks like standard nutrition info which I omits never look at.

  • @neptune@dmv.social
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    388 months ago

    This new trend of soda that’s made of cane sugar and natural coloring is pretty stupid. It’s still a ton of calories and acid on your teeth. At Chipotle, cava, Panera, I’ll get sparkling water out of the Sprite tap and then flavor with a dash of whatever nu soda they have.

    Panera, I feel, is 100% at fault here for trying to make soda and apparently ENERGY DRINKS seem innocuous and healthy.

    • SeaJ
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      368 months ago

      Isn’t all soda essentially just sugar and food coloring?

      • czech
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        138 months ago

        Sprite is “sparkling water” plus syrup. There’s usually a second button on lemonade and lemon-lime soda which holds the syrup.

        • @Number1SummerJam@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          If restaurants just served sparkling water or mineral water I would be way more inclined to order drinks. But nooo, we have to have a society that normalizes liquid candy and alcohol 🥴

              • @MarmaladeMermaid@lemm.ee
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                18 months ago

                “Do you have the button on the Sprite that leyd you get just soda water?”

                “What? You want water?”

                “Sparkling water, from the sprite fountain”

                “So… Sprite?”

                “No, I can see it from here, you know how you get water for water cups from the lemonade one? The Sprite has one of those extra buttons too.”

                “I have to charge you for Sprite, you should just get a Sprite.”

                “Look the line is backing up, can I just Sprite with no syrup please, I’ll pay for a soda.”

                “I guess so…? I have to ask the manager.”

                😫

                • @grue@lemmy.world
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                  38 months ago

                  Frankly, I’d totally count it as free like the regular water, at least if the soda fountain is self-serve.

          • LinkOpensChest.wav
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            18 months ago

            Most do have it if they have a soda fountain. You might have to ask for it. You’re right that it’s not normalized, so you might have to ask for it, but I always served sparkling water on request, and that’s in a fairly rural town in South Dakota.

        • @Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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          108 months ago

          A lot of the fountain machines I’ve used also have a soda water secondary option on one of the drinks. There’s usually a plain water one, too.

          • @SheeEttin@lemmy.world
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            68 months ago

            I’ve seen plain (still) water, never sparkling water. Maybe it’s regional. Very few people in the US drink plain sparkling water.

            • LinkOpensChest.wav
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              68 months ago

              I’ve worked at several restaurants here in the US, and they all had both sparkling and still water from the fountain

              You also might be surprised by how many guests would order sparkling water

            • czech
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              48 months ago

              I was referring to the “soda water” as “sparkling water” per the OP. I don’t really know what the difference is tbh.

              • @Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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                18 months ago

                I don’t think there is a difference, though I could be wrong. Soda water is just water and carbonic acid. Sparkling water I’ve tried tasted like that plus some fruit flavouring but no sugar, so I’ve assumed that plain sparkling water is just soda water.

              • QuinceDaPence
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                18 months ago

                They’re the same thing.

                But at least in some regions of the US it’s extremely unpopular. I’ve never seen a soda fountain with a button for soda/sparkling/carbonated water. The only way you get that is if one of the sodas is out of syrup.

            • @CoggyMcFee@lemmy.world
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              28 months ago

              I live in the US and get sparkling water from the beverage fountain frequently. It’s usually there as a separate little lever on one of the sodas. Maybe you just aren’t noticing it. I’ve found it to be pretty common.

            • Very_Bad_Janet
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              18 months ago

              I agree it may be regional. Seltzer is very popular in NYC, where I am. I once overhead flight attendants on a flight discussing how much seltzer they had to have on hand because they were headed to NYC.

  • @Katrisia@lemm.ee
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    278 months ago

    That’s insane. I hope not only that they win the lawsuit, but that companies understand stimulants can be harder (even dangerous) on some people.

    The way caffeine affects me does not risk my life, but it can get ugly as I have a mental health condition that gets triggered by stimulants. It is so common to rely on caffeine nowadays, and it’s present in many beverages and snacks. People forget it is still a drug.

    There should be labels and there should be less of a presence of caffeine (and other legal drugs) in unrelated products. I mean, it’s normal if coffee has caffeine, it shouldn’t be normal that a lemonade has caffeine.

    • @Scrappy@feddit.nl
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      118 months ago

      The beverage contains 390mg, which is equivalent to 6.5 cups of coffee. I hope this will be used as a case study for other businesses on how to properly label your drinks and further increase transparancy about ingredients used in beverages.

      • @Jaigoda@lemmy.world
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        158 months ago

        A typical drip coffee contains roughly 100mg of caffeine per 8 oz cup, which means a 30 oz cup of coffee would contain very similar amounts to one of the charged lemonades in question. Or course, caffeine varies wildly in coffee depending on exactly how it’s brewed as well as bean origin and roast, so you could easily see well over 400mg in a 30oz drink. And let’s not even get started on adding extra shots of espresso.

        • @gcfbrian@lemmy.world
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          48 months ago

          For what it’s worth, while most of what you said is accurate, espresso contains considerably less caffeine than people tend to think it does. What makes espresso so intense on that front is the concentration per volume, and how fast espresso beverages are consumed in comparison to drip coffee. Drinking a 12oz cup of drip over an hour or two is pretty standard. A double shot cappuccino though, not so much.

          • @PraiseTheSoup@lemm.ee
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            58 months ago

            Drinking a 12oz cup of drip over an hour or two is pretty standard

            Pretty standard where? Literally nobody I know drinks coffee this slow.

            • @gcfbrian@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              I don’t think it’s that uncommon to sit down with a mug of coffee and sip on it over the course of an hour while working or having a chat with someone but maybe my 10 years of specialty coffee experience led me astray.

              • @flerp@lemm.ee
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                18 months ago

                After about 15 minutes coffee tastes disgusting to me. Gets so stale and gross. After an hour I would gag and spit it out.

                • @gcfbrian@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  Good quality coffee should continue to develop in flavor substantially as it cools and is actually quite interesting to taste across the temperature spectrum. I’m sorry that hasn’t been your experience. I do understand coffee is not for everybody, but I do believe if you have the opportunity to experience well prepared craft coffee it has the potential to change that view.

                  Think of cooling coffee having a similar effect as decanting wine, because high end coffee is actually extremely similar to wine. The fruit is fermented in massive containers in a very similar fashion to wine making, imparting a large volume of complex flavors. The act of roasting coffee is actually one of the most difficult sciences in the culinary world, to the point that Michelin starred chefs want nothing to do with it - it’s actually that difficult to execute well. It is pretty easy for somebody to grab a bag of green coffee and absolutely destroy it. It’s incredibly rare for someone to do a coffee its justice. And even then, if the person preparing it once it is roasted doesn’t know what they are doing, they can take the best coffee in the world and make it taste awful.

                • @SpudTech@lemmy.world
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                  28 months ago

                  I’m sorry but you do not sound like a coffee person. I cannot comprehend a world where I live in where I get tired of my beverage of coffee after 15 minutes because it became disgusting.

      • Kogasa
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        68 months ago

        6.5 thimble-sized cups. Compare to an average large coffee (431mg/20oz from Dunkin), or to the average amount consumed by coffee drinkers (~200mg for adults on average, with the 90th percentile being 300-400mg depending on the age group).

        • @assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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          28 months ago

          This touches on yet another conflating factor. The personal tolerance to caffeine varies wildly from person to person. Some can’t have even one cup a day, while others will down an entire pot and just shrug.

          This is an absolute tragedy, but Panera is not legally liable. They should however respect her death by improving their signage and giving much more information. A warning that high consumption can be fatal with rare, unknown conditions seems appropriate.

          • Kogasa
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            58 months ago

            Yeah, I agree. “As much caffeine as our coffee” should be replaced with an explicit number in milligrams and be presented in a standardized label format. It’s important information.

      • @Quexotic
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        -108 months ago

        Holy crap, just imagine if they accidentally got the mix ratio on the machine wrong and somebody got a higher concentration of syrup.

        Panera needs to lose this lawsuit and they need to lose it really hard.

    • @CaptFeather@lemm.ee
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      118 months ago

      There should be labels and there should be less of a presence of caffeine (and other legal drugs) in unrelated products. I mean, it’s normal if coffee has caffeine, it shouldn’t be normal that a lemonade has caffeine.

      I disagree. Don’t get me wrong - fuck Panera in general, but I’m all for more products being offered so long as they’re properly labeled which this was. Also with a name like charged lemonade it heavily omplies it’s not normal lemonade. There’s an argument to be made here about personal responsibilities and reading labels.

      • @assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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        28 months ago

        Yeah it’s a tragic story, but I don’t think Panera is at fault here. What I would like for them to do is update their signage to be even more specific as a result of this. There’s no legal requirement to, and I don’t think a court will find them liable, but no matter how you spin it, this was an absolute tragedy for the girl and her family. Caffeine overdose is an incredibly unpleasant feeling when you drink one more coffee than you should. The poor girl. It would be kind of Panera to make changes because of it.

        • @CaptFeather@lemm.ee
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          28 months ago

          Agreed. I mentioned this in another comment but I’m wondering if she was picking up an online order? The article was not clear about that, but it would certainly be a different story if the lemonade wasn’t properly labeled on the online menu

        • @Stumblinbear@pawb.social
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          Then look at the label and see that it says its caffeine content, as well as comparing it to coffee

          Like, other than not selling it at all, there’s not much else they could’ve done here

    • @SpezBroughtMeHere@lemmy.world
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      68 months ago

      No, the responsibility is solely on the consumer. It’s clearly labeled as having caffeine. No one is forcing anybody to ingest anything against their will. It’s not the company nor governments responsibility to protect oneself against their own stupidity.

      • @phorq@lemmy.ml
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        18 months ago

        Anything can kill you, but quantity matters. Any reasonable person would assume a product marketed towards them would not have an amount remotely high enough to kill without an explicit warning at the very least.

        • Kogasa
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          68 months ago

          Per the FDA, caffeine in amounts under 400mg/day is not generally associated with harmful effects for healthy adults. The largest option for this drink (30oz) has 390mg. It’s not remotely high enough to kill unless you have a heart problem or other severe abnormal caffeine sensitivity. It is clearly labeled as having as much caffeine as coffee. Similarly to how products with peanuts are labelled as “contains nuts,” not “contains enough peanuts to kill you.”

        • @Stumblinbear@pawb.social
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          38 months ago

          And for most people it’s fine. This unfortunate person had a heart condition. If you have a medical problem you had better know what you are and aren’t allowed to do. People with allergies don’t sue jiffy for selling peanut butter

        • @jimbo@lemmy.world
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          There’s not remotely enough caffeine in this beverage “to kill”. A dose of caffeine considered fatal is something like 10,000 mg. You’d have to drink more than five gallons of this lemonade to get a fatal dose of caffeine.

    • @Burninator05@lemmy.world
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      I’m not trying to blame the woman and agree that it should have been labeled (mostly because of the quantity of caffeine in the drink and less that it was there at all) but if a product is called “Charged Food Item” and you knew you were under doctors orders to avoid certain things wouldn’t you ask what was in the item to make it charged?

      • Buglefingers
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        68 months ago

        Charged could represent electrolytes. Naming schemes can be nonsensical sometimes. What is the “extreme” in extreme burrito? Would that also be caffeine? Or more cheese, a different type of cheese? Some other ingredient? What about chocolate delight? Is delight an ingredient? Is there an ingredient that specifically makes the “delight” part? Sometimes naming schemes are about the process used to create it rather than what is in the food itself; see Triscuit

        Someone with food restrictions absolutely has some due diligence on their plate, but calling out a name to divulge or suggest a specific ingredient (when the ingredients name iself is not used) is a hindsight “obviously that’s what it means” take.

        Bugles is another great example where I do not expect instruments in my food. But there is the sweet sweet music of the crunch

        • @ChronosWing@lemmy.zip
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          It’s a bullshit lawsuit, there are signs in front of the lemonade which clearly say “contains as much caffeine as our dark roast coffee” also it’s in all their in store advertising of the product. These parents just want someone to blame, that’s it.

          • @kewjo@lemmy.world
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            28 months ago

            honestly the statement “contains as much caffeine as our dark roast coffee” is misleading since that would be comparing an 8oz coffee to 8oz of lemonade. if you drink the coffee you’re most likely getting a cup that is 8-16oz. however the standard soft drink size is 20-30oz which would mean one cup is basically your daily serving of caffeine.

            if i saw the sign saying “same strength as our coffee” i would assume it’s one cup of coffee is equal to one cup of lemonade. who would only fill their cups half way? it’s insane to sell one cup that is almost 100% the daily value while it’s known bad side effects can happen after 400mg.

            • @assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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              38 months ago

              That cup is the largest available. I think other large coffee beverages might be in a similar quantity. There are smaller cups and sizes you can order.

              The root of everything here is that hidden heart condition. Isn’t there a way we can make screening for it more common or mandatory?

            • @sdoorex@slrpnk.net
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              18 months ago

              Panera sells their coffee is a 16 and 20 fl oz sizes, not 8-16. For the dark roast coffee in a 20, it has 268 mg of caffeine.

              They sell the charged lemonades in 20 and 30 do oz sizes. The 20 size generally has 260 mg of caffeine, slightly less than an identical volume of coffee, with the exception of the drive-through servings which is even lower due to ice.

              What reasonable person would not consider a nearly identical caffeine per volume to be a fair interpretation of “contains as much caffeine as our dark roast coffee” when both can be ordered in the same 20 ounce size?

              Source

        • @Raxiel@lemmy.world
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          08 months ago

          Charged could represent electrolytes.

          Tbh, that’s what I assumed from the headline. Expected something like that “water” that accidentally included Hydrazine due to the woo-woo they did to make it special

      • @intensely_human@lemm.ee
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        98 months ago

        If reducing caffeine does the trick, you don’t want to also cut out salt pre-emptively. There are dangers to cutting salt and it should be a last resort if nothing else works to reduce blood pressure.

        • @HeyJoe@lemmy.world
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          28 months ago

          What are the dangers? Last I saw yes you need sodium, but it’s an extremely small amount per day to stay healthy. So little that if you weren’t trying to diet you would probably surpass the amount after your first meal.

          • @_dev_null@lemmy.zxcvn.xyz
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            38 months ago

            For me my pcp+PharmD were trying to dial in my bp meds, but my numbers were being stubborn. So they recommended I also cut out salt too.

            So a month passes and I go back for labs (one of my bp meds had potential kidney side effects) – my sodium and potassium came in too low. They asked if I was having more water/liquid/diuretics, anything else in combination to help explain the drastic drop, but nope.

            And I kid you not, they were like yeah maybe don’t cut out all salt from your diet.

            • @Krauerking@lemy.lol
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              28 months ago

              Yeah salt is a super necessary mineral for the body. Like it’s wildly important.

              But also salt is wildly effective as a flavor enhancer and so easy to go overboard with. There is actually an old wives tale in the food sciences industry that when setting the average salt intake levels, they decided actually to go with a little under the recommended amount cause they figured everyone would go over just by a little anyways.

          • @intensely_human@lemm.ee
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            08 months ago

            You need sodium to stay hydrated and not trace amounts but significant amounts. You lose salt in sweat. If you’re not replenishing it then your body will retain less and less water leasing to chronic dehydration.

      • @Resonosity@lemmy.ca
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        18 months ago

        But not too much! Some salt is good, but not the absurd amounts you’ll find in prepared food from the food service industry.

        Also, make sure the salt you use has iodine in it. Lots of people don’t get that

        • @Salamendacious@lemmy.worldOP
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          28 months ago

          If you eat only home cooked meals then yes definitely don’t cut it out completely but if you eat out at restaurants or any processed foods then you’re almost guaranteed to get all the salt you need.

      • @assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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        18 months ago

        Is there actually solid science behind that? I had a friend who swore that it really has no effect, and when I personally looked into it, it seemed that a large portion of the population sees higher blood pressure from it, but for most it’s a short term increase.

        I think at the end of the day, moderation is what’s most important.

    • Mossy Feathers (They/Them)
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      8 months ago

      Just an fyi, coffee typically has as much or more caffeine than energy drinks do. The reason why energy drinks feel like they have a lot of caffeine is because they’re typically consumed in greater quantities than coffee (8~12oz for coffee, energy drinks are typically >16oz). So your energy drink has more caffeine because there’s more drink, but when it comes to caffeine-per-ounce, they’re pretty similar. You’re probably getting the same amount of caffeine you were if you only drank those little 8oz red bulls or if you drink 2+ cups of coffee.

      • Haven’t been to Panera in a while, had no idea they were selling these drinks. The article makes mention that people who have the condition she had are typically OK with caffeine but that energy drinks are more dangerous because they contain other stimulants apart from the caffeine, like taurine. There’s really no fair comparison between coffee and energy drinks because of all the other added stimulants in energy drinks

  • NXTR
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    238 months ago

    There used to be a product called Redline: White Heat from VPX (same people that make bang with the unhinged CEO). It had to be taken off the market because it had an amphetamine analogue in it called AMP Citrate or DMBA.

    One scoop of that stuff made me feel like I was going to die. My friend who took Ritalin at the time told me it was more powerful than any other stimulant he had before.

    It’s crazy to think this was openly available at health supplement stores for years before the FDA caught wind.

    • @Salamendacious@lemmy.worldOP
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      88 months ago

      The supplement industry is rife with problems. A former co-worker of mine used to buy this pre-work out powder on the Internet and he said some batches would be so potent he felt like he was going to jump out of his skin and then sometimes it was really weak and he’d have to take several doses.

      • NXTR
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        38 months ago

        Here is the original FDA letter to VPX regarding White Heat. The chemical they are focusing on is 4-Amino-2-Methylpentane Citrate also known as 1,3-Dimethylbutylamine, DMBA, 2-amino-4-methylpentane, AMP citrate, and 4-methyl-2-pentanamine (according to the FDA letter). Upon further research, it seems like, although the structure of the compound is similar to an amphetamine, the actual mechanism of action of these and similar compounds, such as DMAA, still isn’t fully known. So it was a bit inaccurate of me to call it an “amphetamine analogue” since they might not work in a similar manner.

      • @Obi@sopuli.xyz
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        8 months ago

        I don’t know about that drink of theirs and have the same doubts as you but here in nl some companies produce ever-changing molecules that are close to the real stuff but different enough that the specific compound isn’t banned yet. The one I know of only sells to other European countries.

    • @PutangInaMo@lemmy.world
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      28 months ago

      That product had nothing on the one before it; Clenbutrix. I used to take it all the time you had to squirt it in the back of your throat with the supplied syringe. Daily use would make my throat and tongue sore, and if it hit your tongue well… good luck with those taste buds lol.

      It’s crazy they got away with that for as long as they did.

    • @stolid_agnostic@lemmy.ml
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      18 months ago

      There are two things I would consider: first, it’s only relatively recently (i.e. last 100 years) that people cared about this sort of thing. Enforcement and cultural change is slow. Second, a lot of these substances can actually be used as part of a workout routine and weren’t developed with abuse in mind. GHB is an example of that–it apparently increased the ability for people to work out, but also will render you unconscious if mixed with alcohol. Until roughly 20 years ago, any GNC just sold it in bottles.

  • @Underwaterbob@lemm.ee
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    198 months ago

    The 30 oz has 390mg of caffeine! That’s four regular cups of coffee. I’m a big guy, and that would mess me up.

    • @autumn_rain@lemmy.world
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      28 months ago

      And nearly 3/4 cup of sugar. The sugar alone can trigger heart arrythmias. (I have a heart arrythmia and can’t tolerate much sugar.)

    • AzureKevin
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      8 months ago

      30 fl oz is A LOT of beverage, a normal sized energy drink is more like 8-16 fl oz, and usually has only 100-200 mg caffeine tops. I’ve noticed a lot of 300 mg drinks start to get phased out in favor of drinks that only have 120 mg, which is actually a pretty reasonable amount for an adult.

      For instance, I’m about 190 lbs and I need close to 250 mg to adequately feel its effects for exercise, and there are studies that show this is an appropriate amount (mg/lb) for exercise benefits.

      However, even though 30 fl oz with 390 mg is about in line with the smaller drinks for caffeine/volume, I think ideally they should just not offer such a large size drink.

      • @HandBreadedTools@lemmy.world
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        38 months ago

        Dude energy drinks usually have 150-200mg. Bang, for an extreme example, only has 300mg lol. Obviously it’s more concentrated as they’re not 30oz, but the point remains.

      • @Underwaterbob@lemm.ee
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        18 months ago

        I 'd like to, but I had to give up the caffeine. I love the pep it delivers, but if I drink it in any quantity I eventually start getting absolutely debilitating headaches.

  • Semi-Hemi-Demigod
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    188 months ago

    They way I learned Dr. Pepper has caffeine is a friend in high school with a similar undiagnosed condition dying after drinking one.

    • @Sarmyth@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      88 months ago

      But it’s soda… it’s tragic they died but I just can’t fathom not assuming every soda is cafinated. There’s like a handful of lemon lime sodas that are marketed as uncafinated, and I assume everything else is by default.

      • Semi-Hemi-Demigod
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        8 months ago

        I’m not sure where you live, but most of the sodas available here don’t have caffeine unless they’re colas. Fruit flavored sodas and root beers are almost never caffeinated, except for Mellow Yellow which I also learned too late that it had caffeine, as I grabbed one late at night and then couldn’t sleep.

        It was less tragic than someone dying, but having it be a guessing game whether something has caffeine and how much is dangerous and it needs much clearer labels.

        Of course, we really shouldn’t be drinking soda in the first place.

  • kingthrillgore
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    78 months ago

    I feel like Panera has lost its way after JAB bought it. This wouldn’t fly before and some of their menu items now are just pure excess.