this post was submitted on 06 Dec 2023
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Panera Bread’s highly caffeinated Charged Lemonade is now blamed for a second death, according to a lawsuit filed Monday.

Dennis Brown, of Fleming Island, Florida, drank three Charged Lemonades from a local Panera on Oct. 9 and then suffered a fatal cardiac arrest on his way home, the suit says.

Brown, 46, had an unspecified chromosomal deficiency disorder, a developmental delay and a mild intellectual disability. He lived independently, frequently stopping at Panera after his shifts at a supermarket, the legal complaint says. Because he had high blood pressure, he did not consume energy drinks, it adds.

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[–] Vej@lemm.ee 121 points 9 months ago (7 children)

As someone who has gone to the hospital for an overdose on caffeine, I really want to try one of these. Because, I clearly haven't learned my lesson at all.

[–] gibmiser@lemmy.world 31 points 9 months ago

Fucking lol

[–] PsychedSy@sh.itjust.works 23 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Right? I've never gone for an overdose, but I have had jangly eyeballs once or twice.

Sounds delicious.

"jangly eyeballs" is the perfect descriptor thanks

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[–] kogasa@programming.dev 14 points 9 months ago

If you've ever had a large coffee, it's like that. If you've ever had 3 large coffees and a heart condition, the same principle applies.

[–] EdibleFriend@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago

I'm glad I'm not the only one who keeps seeing these stories and immediately wanting to go try it.

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[–] WhoresonWells@lemmy.basedcount.com 81 points 9 months ago (5 children)

Panera should go ahead and put prominent warning labels on it. Call it The lemonade so charged it killed [name of latest victim]. It might double sales of the product.

[–] hydrospanner@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago

Or like those worker safety counters: XX Days Since Last Lost-Life Lemonade Accident

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago

How much you want to bet that Heart Attack Grill is going to run with that idea.

[–] Igloojoe@lemm.ee 10 points 9 months ago

Panera's MURDER lemonade. So good it'll kill you!! Buy one, get one on Mondays!

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[–] dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 69 points 9 months ago (6 children)

Why is a bread and soup restaurant selling energy drinks so caffeinated it will kill you if you drink it?

[–] SkybreakerEngineer@lemmy.world 39 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The same reason a sandwich restaurant uses only bread that is legally classified as cake

[–] massacre@lemmy.world 38 points 9 months ago (1 children)

For those not in the know... it's Subway.

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[–] abbotsbury@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It's not so caffeinated, it's about as much caffeine per ounce as coffee

[–] Clasm@lemmy.world 39 points 9 months ago (7 children)

Yeah, but nobody's drinking 3 30 oz coffees in one sitting. Nor is coffee really marketed as a health drink.

Found this as well:

A 30-ounce, large-size Panera Charged Lemonade has about 390 milligrams of caffeine, about four times the amount found in a cup of coffee.

[–] abbotsbury@lemmy.world 12 points 9 months ago (3 children)

If any sugar soaked beverage is allowed to be marketed as a health drink, that's a problem that applies to the entire industry.

And drinking 90oz is the fault of the consumer, remember how much blowback there was when New York banned selling drinks above a certain volume? The people want to be able to do drink ungodly amounts of soft drink, apparently.

Only thing I really blame Panera for is not clearly labeling how much caffeine is in a cup, which I also don't really blame them for because the last time I went to Starbucks or McDonald's I couldn't find out which latte had the most caffeine, so that's standard behavior I guess.

Push for more required disclosure if you'd like, I'd probably agree, but Panera was not out of line IMO.

[–] Clasm@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago

If it is an industry problem, then this sort of event is usually what snowballs into actual change.

The tip of this case, I believe, isn't just the caffeine content, but the fact that it:

  • Wasn't exactly labeled as a high-caf drink.
  • Was often next to, or in place of, non-caf drinks.
  • Was marketed as part of an unlimited drinks program.

While the company isn't required to cater to individuals with very specific tolerances of the simulant, they likely had data available to them that suggests that this outcome was always a possibility, yet they supposedly ran the product until people died.

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[–] DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe 8 points 9 months ago

1200 mgs of caffeine can cause seizures in even healthy adults btw.

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[–] EatYouWell@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago (2 children)

It's not a dangerous drink for the majority of the population. Dude had known medical issues that caffeine can cause issues with, and drank an unreasonable amount of it.

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[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 27 points 9 months ago (7 children)

Dennis Brown, of Fleming Island, Florida, drank three Charged Lemonades...

Brown, 46, had an unspecified chromosomal deficiency disorder, a developmental delay and a mild intellectual disability.

Because he had high blood pressure, he did not consume energy drinks, it adds.

Can someone explain why this is Panera Bread's fault?

[–] RunawayFixer@lemmy.world 37 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Because the drink was not clearly marked as being dangerous, a good article on this: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/panera-adds-warning-caffeinated-lemonade-stores-lawsuit-customers-deat-rcna122628

If you want the tldr: the "lemonade" was located next to regular drinks and "Photos ... show it was advertised as “plant-based and clean,” containing as much caffeine as the restaurant’s dark roast coffee.".

Apparently Panera's defence is that each customer should look up and read the detailed ingredient list and have enough specialized nutritional knowledge to know which dosages constitute a danger to their life.

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 16 points 9 months ago (12 children)

To play devil's advocate (because I really don't care for Panera Bread or energy drinks), but...

“Because the drink was not clearly marked as being dangerous...”

It's actually NOT dangerous for healthy individuals. In the first death, the woman had a heart condition and knew it had caffeine in it, but obviously not her or Panera would know what her safe limit (if any) would be. Yet, she consumed it anyway.

In this more recent death, the man had multiple health risks, including high blood pressure, an “intellectual disability”, “blurry vision” and “ADHD” (not sure if he was also on medication for any of those).

Assuming it was self-serve, as most Panera Bread's are (I believe), he would have seen this:

Now, he many not have understood what any of that means, but he also purchased this drink “at least seven times over the course of two weeks” according to the lawsuit.

Having high blood pressure means that even the sugar would create problems for him.

He ended up drinking “3 servings”, which could be up to 2.5L (!!!) worth, which killed him. That's not a normal amount of any beverage, for any individual, in one sitting. Let alone a high sugar, high caffeine drink for someone with high blood pressure who may have also been on medication.

I guess my question would be: what else should restaurants do?

Someone with a health condition could be at risk when they overconsume on most foods that are high in one thing or another (fat, salt, sugar, caffeine, etc.)

Hell, drinking enough water in a short amount of time could kill you, so where does a restaurant's responsibility end and the individual's responsibility begin?

[–] douglasg14b@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I mean, nuts also aren't dangerous to healthy people if you count healthy people as those without nut allergies...

The logic doesn't hold up vs how society is supposed to work.

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[–] MataVatnik@lemmy.world 32 points 9 months ago (15 children)

390mg of caffeine on the lemonade. Who ever expects lemonade to have caffeine let alone 390mg? It's fucking insane. A can of coke has 35mg and thats enough to give me anxiety, sweats and tension. If I drank that thinking it was lemonade I would be fucked at another level.

[–] EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago (1 children)

If I drank that thinking it was lemonade I would be fucked at another level.

To be fair that is frankly a ludicrous reaction for a healthy adult to have to 35mg of caffeine.

[–] MjolnirThyme@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 9 months ago

Thats not the point though, 390 mg is a lot even for a healthy adult.

[–] Olgratin_Magmatoe@startrek.website 12 points 9 months ago (1 children)

On top of that, it wasn't labeled well at all. It sounds like they did not stat the caffeine content on the dispenser, but even if it did, not everybody has a good reference of how fucking much 390mg is.

[–] Stephen304@lemmy.ml 14 points 9 months ago

It pretty much just looks like any other mundane nutrition facts. it doesn't call your attention to the amount at all or give any indication that 390mg might be high. I assumed it would be on the level of tea until I couldn't sleep at all the night after I had one (and I had it at like 2pm too, not even in the evening), and I still didn't make the connection until I later saw it in the news. I don't recall any other brand marketing using the term "charged" to indicate caffeine so I don't get people saying that everyone should understand that "charged" means caffeinated. "Spiked" and alcohol content sure, that's obvious, but "charged" is so vague.

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[–] n3m37h@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

They never disclosed how much caffeine/sugar was in the drink till after the first death. Too much caffeine can kill you.

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[–] starman2112@sh.itjust.works 11 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Because they sell what looks and tastes like normal lemonade, without any safeguards to make sure you don't accidentally drink four times the daily recommended limit in one sitting. The signs display the caffeine content in small text next to the calories, which you and I both know that nobody who doesn't count their calories reads. It's called "charged" lemonade, in small yellow text on the green sign. It's perfectly reasonable to assume that the lemonade in that lemonade dispenser is normal lemonade.

But why hold them accountable? Starbucks wouldn't be in trouble if you drank 90 oz of coffee!

Coffee obviously has caffeine, it's the kind of inseparable from the concept of it. Same goes to a lesser extent with many sodas–anyone who has to watch their caffeine likely knows that coke and doctor pepper have caffeine. But lemonade? Who sells caffeinated lemonade? I guess G-Fuel does, but someone with a heart condition probably knows not to order G-Fuel.

Lemonade is the safe choice when you don't want caffeine, because to my knowledge nobody (besides Panera bread) has ever sold caffeinated lemonade out of self-service dispensers.

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[–] Daft_ish@lemmy.world 23 points 9 months ago

I need to get more of that fucking lemonade.

[–] ArugulaZ@kbin.social 20 points 9 months ago (2 children)

That charged lemonade is going to be a big hit in 2024, I tell 'ya.

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[–] calypsopub@lemmy.world 19 points 9 months ago (11 children)

I have tachycardia and I'm supposed to avoid caffeine. But I could easily not read the fine print and drink this. Who expects caffeine in their lemonade?

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (3 children)

They very clearly advertise this lemonade as being caffeinated in all the signage I've seen in their stores. They even tell you how much is in each size, which is quite substantial. The biggest size is right at the cusp of the daily recommended maximum for caffeine (similar to a large can of Monster or Rockstar) at a whopping 390mg (and for reference, the daily max is 400mg).

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[–] zacharoid@kbin.social 15 points 9 months ago

Was just there, they recently moved them behind the counter, this time they were completely gone.

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