this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2023
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Sarah Katz, 21, had a heart condition and died hours after she drank Panera’s Charged Lemonade, a large cup of which contains more caffeine than Red Bull and Monster energy drinks combined.

All Panera Bread restaurants are now displaying "enhanced" disclosures about the restaurant chain’s highly caffeinated lemonade, a spokesperson said Saturday, following a lawsuit that was filed by the family of a young woman who died after drinking the beverage.

Monday's lawsuit, which was first obtained by NBC News, alleges that Sarah Katz, an Ivy League student with a heart condition, died after she drank Panera’s Charged Lemonade last year.

A large Charged Lemonade contains 390 milligrams — nearly the 400-milligram daily maximum of caffeine that the Food and Drug Administration says healthy adults can safely consume.

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[–] Case@lemmynsfw.com 39 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I feel like every beverage containing caffeine should have its total content labeled.

Not because I'm sensitive or anything, I just need the biggest dose I can find in the morning.

Then again, I've been addicted to caffeine since child hood. I quit once, it was thought to be disturbing my sleep; NOPE! Just bipolar mania fucking it up.

If anyone is concerned, I'm on meds and doing well - I still might stab someone in the morning over getting in the way of caffeine though.

[–] AstridWipenaugh@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] Skullgrid@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago

I had no opinion until I read this thread.

I'm a person that suffers from addiction to food, for lack of better phrasing. As in, I am currently going to therapy and a nutricionist and have won this battle a few times before.

I usually think sugar laws are BS, but taxes are a way of making things more "balanced without bans".

850 ml of somethig should not have 14% of its weight come from sugar. That's insane. No serving of something should contain 124 grams of sugar, except ... sugar. You're basically eating a quarter pounder made of sugar when you're drinking this. Like, eating an eighth of a 1kg bag of sugar is basically the same thing as drinking this. Holy fuck.

I like coffee, caffeinated drinks, etc etc. I like science and technology and bizarre nutrition (protein powders, BCAAs, etc). I didn't know what the "safe adult limit" of caffeine was, except that you'd have to drink several cups of coffee extremely quickly. There have been days , especially at uni where I'd drink 3 large energy drinks, and feel my heart react to it and think "yeah, that's enough".

The "warning" on the drink is completely contextless and ignoreable. "Oh ok, it's got caffeine in it, 389mg, wild". No wonder the woman just grabbed it and went on with her day and died.

Also, it's a complete waste of advertising potential. If a drink advertises "ALMOST LETHAL AMOUNTS OF CAFFEINE!" you might want to drink it more for that reason, "Charged lemonade" makes it sounds like it's got a hint of lime in it as well as lemons.

[–] broface@lemm.ee 0 points 1 year ago

Sounds like you were given too much stimulation as a child and now anything less makes you uncomfortable.

[–] buzz86us@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I really don't get this lawsuit it is clearly labeled on the app, and the dispensers.

[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago (3 children)

It may be something to do without a proper reference. If it showed a large =3 cups of coffee you get a good idea, but stating a certain mg of caffeine doesn't really mean much to most people.

[–] thecarninja@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think this would make far more sense. Plus, I know that for me, the last thing I would think about lemonade is that it has caffeine content. Alchohol, maybe. Sugar? Sure. But caffeine? Nope. Having never heard of their Charged Lemonade before this, I think I'd probably be likely to make that mistake at least once.

[–] abraxas@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

There's a fairly massive sign right in front of it with caffeine content and advertising targeted at caffeine fans.

[–] abraxas@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's less caffeine than a large ice coffee at most establishments, straight-out. 400mg caffeine is downright reasonable. And the articles have been claiming her family's side is that she thought it wasn't caffeinated at all.

[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well I don't know if I would say 400mg is reasonable, its the fda daily recommended limit. That's around 4 8 oz cups of coffee, which is quite a bit of caffeine, certainly safe for most people of course.

[–] abraxas@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Well I don’t know if I would say 400mg is reasonable

It is absolutely 100% reasonable.

its the fda daily recommended limit.

It's more of a loose recommendation than some FDA limits. They're saying that it is 100% safe for most Americans to have 400mg every day of their lives. The comparative figure to 400mg of caffeine is 0mg of alcohol. 400mg of caffeine is health positive for almost all people, unlike pretty much every other ingredient in beverages at that counter.

That’s around 4 8 oz cups of coffee

For better or worse, nobody drinks 8oz coffees in the US. A small at a major coffee chain is 10oz. It's a little less 1 Large Iced Coffee from Dunkin, possibly the single most popular drive-through beverage in the country.

[–] PurplePropagule@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It says "as much caffeine as our dark roast" on the dispenser. It's a pretty solid reference imo. If you have the same quantity of lemonade or coffee, then you have the same caffeine intake.

[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world -4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Saying as much caffeine as our dark roast would imply that the lemonade has the same amount as a cup, but it's like 3 to 4 cups of coffee equivalent.

[–] PurplePropagule@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It has the same amount of caffeine if you get the 20fluid oz cup. A 20oz coffee at panera is 268mg while 20oz of lemonade is 260. I don't think you have a point here.

[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes I've looked it up, the serving size is this biggest culprit here. The large charged lemonade has around 400 MG of caffeine, for around 30 oz. 8 oz of coffee has around 80 to 100 MG of caffeine. Scale it up and it works out to about 4 cups of coffee.

I mean dunkin serves 396mg of caffeine in their large iced coffees. Just eyeballing it, their large iced beverages seem to be 30oz as well. I don't think that the serving sizes are much of an issue when compared to other beverages with similar caffeine content at other restaurants and cafes.

[–] Psythik@lemm.ee -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

To be fair, Panera has always labeled the caffeine content of its drinks. Problem is that people don't read the god damn label on the machine, forcing Panera to make it bigger and more obvious.

[–] shottymcb@lemm.ee 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

The staff nationwide were instructed to tell customers that it has "About as much caffeine as our dark roast" when asked about the caffeine content though.

[–] PurplePropagule@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That is correct. If you compare the caffeine content per ml to most coffees, you'll find that it's essentially the same. Star bucks coffee, for example, has 410mg for their large cup which is actually more per ml than the lemonades have.

[–] abraxas@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago

It's actually about 2/3 the caffeine of any of the most popular coffee blends in the US. It's also only ~2/3 of the caffeine of Panera's own Light Roast. That's why they explicitly compare its caffeination to their dark roast.

[–] Ender2k@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

...which is accurate.

[–] Ataraxia@sh.itjust.works -2 points 1 year ago

Because people are idiots. If they put the mg most people will have no fucking clue what it means and assume it's a safe amount.

[–] abraxas@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago

Ironically, this new warning is a lot smaller than the label, and less visible. It's just CYA protections from a company it seems that for the first time in a long time, didn't actually fuck up.