Last week, a tragic accident occurred where a 14 year old girl is now dead. It is believed that the energy drink known as “Monster” may be the cause of this death. She supposedly drank two 24 oz. Monster energy drinks before her death. The autopsy report attributed her death to “cardiac arrhythmia due to caffeine toxicity.” Should we begin to fear caffeine after this horrible incident?

Keep in mind that even though the Monster energy drinks came in 24 oz. cans, one serving size of Monster is 8 oz. That means within a 24 hour period of time, this girl drank 6 servings of Monster!! It seems a bit odd to me as to why a 14 year old girl would need this much caffeine in her system in any given day. Not to be confused, caffeine is a stimulant drug. As a drug, it needs to be used properly and with caution. Just like over the counter drugs are sold without a prescription, but they can be just as deadly as prescription drugs. When using an over the counter drug, you are expected to follow the directions for proper use and the amount that you should take in a given period of time. The same holds true for caffeine as well.

While many people may fear caffeine after NBC created a headline for “When Caffeine Kills,” caffeine has many great qualities as well. A few of these qualities would be it increases memory, keeps you alert, decreases your chances of Alzheimer’s, helps muscle recovery, increases dopamine in the brain to help prevent depression, and recent research is leading towards the thought that it may even have some cancer fighting properties.

For the many years that caffeine has been around, it has done much more good than bad. Water, Sodium, and Potassium are all crucial for human life but in excessive doses can be bad for our health and even deadly. What a 14 year old needed two 24 oz. cans of Monster energy drink is beyond me, but the moral of this story should be to pay close attention to serving size, directions, and warning labels on products you consume. It seems difficult to blame a product for a death when it is taken in such extreme doses. Serving sizes and directions are put on products for a reason, and they need to be taken seriously. Parents should also start regulating the amount of caffeine that their children have. I have seen way too many recent situations where a 6 year old child is getting a large Frappuccino from Starbucks as a snack. Do you know how much caffeine is in a Starbucks coffee?!! Caffeine is a drug, and you can become dependent on caffeine if you consume it often enough. In order to get that same kick from the caffeine, you will eventually need to take in more. If it ever gets to this point, you need to stop using caffeine for a while until your tolerance comes back to normal. Caffeine should be used for the benefits, but in no way should you ever rely on it for total daily function.

To view more information about this recent story, please visit: http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/23/14649966-when-caffeine-kills-energy-drinks-under-the-spotlight?lite

-Tom