Japanese media reported on Monday that a man in his 20s who had consumed a lot of caffeinated drinks over a long period of time died due to caffeine poisoning.
According to Fukuoka University, the man was working during the night and regularly took caffeine in beverage and tablet form in order to stay awake at work, Fuji TV reported. He worked at a gasoline station from midnight to dawn.
Colleagues said the man used to consume a lot of energy drinks and that he had vomited and collapsed many times in the year prior to his death, Fuji reported.
On the day he died, he vomited and was found unconscious at home. He was taken to hospital where he died.
The university's forensic medicine faculty was requested by police to perform an autopsy, which showed a high level of caffeine powder in the man's stomach contents and blood. Caffeine intoxication was listed as the official cause of death.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said they have never heard of such a case in Japan yet, and that this may be the first caffeine-induced death in Japan.
According to the Food Safety Commission's guidelines, three cups of coffee a day for an adult and a 350-milliliter can of soda for children between 4 and 6 years old is the recommended maximum daily amount of caffeine intake.
© Japan Today
39 Comments
Login to comment
Yubaru
Ok....let's be fair here, it's also known that O'cha, the famous Japanese green tea has quite a bit of caffeine as well, and I will be willing to bet that more Japanese people drink O'cha than coffee over the course of any given day.
borscht
No matter what kind of powder you have in your blood, you will die.
Or maybe this could have been written more clearly?
DeDe Miura
Red Bull and Monster drinks are so-called energy drinks, too - they can kill.
M3M3M3
Was it really the drinks that killed him or was it more likely the pills?
Maria
Poor guy, trying to make a living, exhausted and jittery every day, he must have been miserable.
Jonathan Prin
Any product ingested in too much quantity will kill you(be forced to drink 6 litres of water quickly and die!) In fact, absence of any reaction from colleagues, boss or labor doctor is the reason he died. Still, he killed himself; not the first one I am sure. RIP
Yubaru
As can the so-called "health" drinks too. There was a guy a few years back who died because he was addicted to drinking them. Anything can kill you, it's moderation that's the key to survival!
LFRAgain
Or was it poor diet, irregular sleep patterns, and what clearly seems to be a case of exhaustion that killed him? Considering there's significantly more research showing that poor diet and sleep deprivation can kill a person than caffiene, it seems rather premature and . . . well, amateurish to conclude that caffeine alone killed this man.
nath
Caffeine can also cause side-effects with some drugs, energy drinks usually doing the caffeine works once a day and you will need rest before the next one.
Happier since I gave up caffeine, soda and some teas as they are higher in caffeine
FizzBit
He probably wasn't eating as well. Much like an alcohol addiction with no sleep. Very bad
Frank Thornton
And he didn't seek professional help...?
JA_Cruise
It was a combination of over exhaustion and lack of nutrition, I don't think the caffeine alone killed him. Anything taken in overdose can be bad for you if not toxic in some cases.
Jeff Ogrisseg
Not sure which is funnier: 3 cups of coffee a day maximum for an adult, or the fact that the government's "food safety" geniuses think it's OK to give a can of Coke to a 4-year-old.
Black Sabbath
Poor guy. Working his tail off during the night shift.
Many (young) people who don't know any better misuse and abuse many things. Its very sad. My condolences to his family, and I hope more people hear about this. Perhaps some good could come from this.
lucabrasi
It's true that there's more caffeine in tea than coffee, weight-for-weight, but it requires a lot more coffee to make a cup.
I remember the salarymen in Brazil stopping off at the corner bar on the way to work for a tiny, thimble-sized cafezinho; they' d walk out eyes glazed and shaking. Strong stuff.
SenseNotSoCommon
So it does give you wings. Angel wings.
Azzprin
What size of a cup ?
I put one teaspoon of coffee in my cup.
A manager i worked with years ago put 3 or 4 teaspoons of coffee in his cup.
So how many teaspoons of coffee is dangerous ?
.
Wc626
. . . and I thought Tweek (from South Park) was a fictional over-caffeinated character who could never be real.
Richard Rabinowitz
So there IS such a thing as a caffeine overdose!
natsu823
Japanese people here are not educated about caffeine. Japanese kids drink coffee at a very early age.
SenseNotSoCommon
Thank the government:
Pardon?
smithinjapan
"According to the Food Safety Commission’s guidelines, three cups of coffee a day for an adult and a 350-milliliter can of soda for children between 4 and 6 years old is the recommended maximum daily amount of caffeine intake."
Was this sponsored by the tea growers' association or something? Green tea has a WAY higher caffeine level than coffee, and the man was drinking energy drinks and taking caffeine pills, but no mention about levels of those at all.
natsu823: "Japanese kids drink coffee at a very early age."
And long, long before that they are drinking tea, which, unless it is wheat tea or decaffeinated, has caffeine. You are right about the lack of education.
Instant Winner
I have never heard of caffeine being fatal. But that does mean its good for you. Its not. Excessive caffeine consumption was giving me severe migraines combined with temporary sight loss. And as its reputation is protected by you know who, I doubt any doctor would have indicated the cause. I had to find it by searching the internet and reading about other people's personal experiences directly. It is a drug, even if people try to tell themselves differently. And I bet this man was trying to replace sleep with this over-the-counter stimulant drug. He is going to get plenty of sleep now!
FizzBit
What really amazes me is how many people here and all over the world drink coffee while eating. BAD combination
Yubaru
Actually this is pretty much a myth, even the Mayo Clinic studies and research show differently.
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/caffeine/art-20049372
Tea has more caffeine before brewing but once brewed it is diluted to well below the amount found in an average cup of black coffee, BUT it contains more than what is in so-called decaffeinated coffee, which still btw has some caffeine in it.
So unless you are eating the leaves themselves, the caffeine level is lower in tea than coffee.
IfeelImust
Yea, and if you ate 100 bananas you'd probably die too. Moderation in all things,
Davnetcat
Who knew it would kill. His coworkers and friends should have said something.
KyushuKris
Caffeine can mess with you. I'll never forget the day I was bored at work and sank six strong coffees from the Italian cafe downstairs (they were free for me) Not bring a coffee drinker at all until that point- I literally tripped out, had a full on panic attack and had to leave work early. I was so spun out the boss asked me if I needed an ambulance.
Goodlucktoyou
Salaryman's breakfast, coffee and tobacco.
smithinjapan
Yubaru: "So unless you are eating the leaves themselves, the caffeine level is lower in tea than coffee."
And who sponsor's the Mayo Clinic's report? In any case, it still has caffeine, doesn't it? And people still drink it like it's going out of style. My point is that it is typical, and unfair, to single out coffee when the article is about the negative affects of too much caffeine in general -- and particularly when the man in question was taking caffeine pills and drinking energy drinks, which are in a bit of a boom right now, with most convenience stores selling them right inside the doorways so you see them when you walk in.
Yubaru
Never said it didnt, reread my first post, and by the way it was you who wrote the following, hence my response.
Only if you eat the leaves before brewing them, then you would be right!
Fadamor
Maybe. But no more amateurish than deciding (with no supporting evidence) that a guy who works the night shift automatically is suffering from "poor diet and sleep deprivation".
Novenachama
Japanese regularly drink nine to even ten glasses of green tea daily and I've never read or even heard of any case of toxicity from people drinking green tea. But there are cases of toxicity that involve green tea extract capsules because when you take a dietary supplement, you get a much higher concentrated dose. There is a mixed picture of caffeine meaning it's not all bad but it's not all good either. A lot of information that we need to maintain a healthy relationship with it is, for a large part inaccessible to us. Of course children should not be allowed to consume any type of energy drink and if you're sensitive to caffeine forget it.To put it bluntly, you have to use caution and sense even for adults when using energy drinks because too many energy drinks at one time or drinking one too fast can cause stomachache, vomiting, nervousness, tremors, restlessness, mood swings, seizures, sweating, changes in heart rhythm, diarrhea, chest pains, increased blood pressure, dehydration and kidney problems. Fortunately overdose of caffeine has been extremely rare so there is no reporting methodology for deaths by caffeine. There's actually more deaths from water overdose or drinking too much water.
bluenote1
I felt sorry for the guy, dying in an attempt to keep abreast of work loads. Yet somehow this article needs some clarifying - there must have been other factors involved other than just caffeine. Could a mix of other stimulants have created an overload?
Fadamor
(My emphasis)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/27/too-much-caffeine_n_1457102.html
How many of us pop more than a couple of 5-hour energy drinks a day?
WilliB
InstantWinner:
Everything is fatal if you overdose on it. People have even died from drinking too much water. I think the problem with these energy drinks is that they are dressed up as soft drinks; some people don´t realize the equivalent amount of coffee they are consuming.
FizzBit
I've never drank an energy drink in my life. What does it do? I figured it's same as coffee.
BTW, my brother doesn't like coffee so he drinks caffeinated water. weird
nath
Tried a few few, they were OK, funnily enough Red Bull makes me throw up(one of the founders is a country man). But than I hate lakritze/liquorish.