High School Teen Dies After Consuming Too Much Caffeine in 2 Hours

A 16-year-old high school student from South Carolina suddenly died last April after consuming three caffeinated drinks over the course of about two hours.

According to the report from Miami Herald, Davis Allen Cripe died due to a "caffeine-induced cardiac event causing a probable arrhythmia." County Coroner Gary Watts noted that the arrhythmia might have been triggered after Davis consumed high amounts of caffeine from three different sources, which include an energy drink, a large Diet Mountain Dew and a café latte from McDonald's.

"This was not an overdose. We lost Davis from a totally legal substance," said Watts on a news conference, as per CNN. "Our purpose here today is to let people know, especially our young kids in school, that these drinks can be dangerous, and be very careful with how you use them, and how many you drink on a daily basis."

Before collapsing at 2:30 p.m. of April 26, Davis ordered a latte at McDonalds at around 12:30 p.m. During that two-hour time frame, Davis also consumed an energy drink and a large Diet Mountain Dew. An hour later, about 3:40 p.m., Davis was pronounced dead.

Davis' autopsy revealed that there are no drugs or alcohol in his system when he died. Additionally, Davis was completely healthy, with no undiagnosed heart condition or other conditions that could have triggered by his high caffeine intake.

Too much consumption of caffeinated drinks has been previously linked with high blood pressure and arrhythmia. During an arrhythmia, the heart may experience difficulties in pumping enough blood to the body. As a result of the abnormal heart rhythm, there would be lack of blood flow in the body, negatively affecting the brain, heart and other organs.

Despite the tragic death of Davis, dying from too much caffeine is very rare. The effects of too much caffeine may differ from person to person. A man may take higher amount of caffeine than Davis and still go on with his day normally, while other may experience adverse effect of too much caffeine.