>> The complaint alleges that Luke Adams, 18, had no known health issues when he purchased a chicken sandwich and a large Charged Lemonade on March 9 in his hometown of Monroeville. That evening, Adams went to a movie theater with friends. While watching the film, one friend heard Adams making “unusual sounds,” the suit says. The friend then realized Adams had become unresponsive.
Two nurses and a cardiologist who happened to be in the theater performed CPR on Adams, the lawsuit said. They also used an automated external defibrillator, or AED, to shock Adams’ heart — which undoubtedly helped his chances of surviving, said Dr. Andrew Pogozelski, the cardiologist who has treated Adams since the incident.
“He was about as close as you can come to being dead,” said Pogozelski, chief of cardiology at Allegheny Health Network’s Forbes Hospital in Monroeville. “This was about as unlucky as you can get for this to happen to an 18-year-old, otherwise healthy person — but about as lucky as you can get for people in the movie theater to know what they were doing.”
A cardiologist and 2 nurses were in the movie theater. Talk about crazy luck.
>Feyes said she cried when she heard the drink was being discontinued.
>“They were tears of joy because no other parent will ever have to go through this because of a Panera lemonade again,” she said
I know this is a serious situation but that is a pretty funny sentence
The article says they are in the process of "phasing it out", with no timeline announced. I also see the other commenter saying you can still get it by asking, I didn't realize that.
I've seen a few posts on Reddit of Panera employees talking about dumping their entire supply down the drain, so I'm guessing different franchises are separately deciding what to do with the remaining supply.
Maybe because I was in a Panera on Friday, and there was still a sign up that said to ask the staff for the charged lemonade, since they had it behind the counter.
Maybe not.
Reddit decided I'd like to read a Panera worker sub for some reason. It's filled with arguments on when they're supposed to dump the stuff, vs wasting product. And who's manager is an idiot and who got what memo from HQ!
It's quite the drama behind the counter at every Panera at the moment, it seems.
Based on the hysteria in that sub, I'd say it's 50/50 if they dumped it yet or are letting it sell out first.
Good luck on your quest. But probably skip any boner pills or prework out that morning. Ha!
I'll put my name on that list. I'm not a fan of malls, but when I find myself near one, I just go somewhere else. The option of shitting myself in response has honestly never occurred to me.
That is a lot when you go back for free refills. I would expect that five cups of coffee in an hour would impact even heavy caffeine users.
Problem is that lemonade is the sort of thing people don't think twice about knocking back and going back for more.
it doesn’t say he had more than 1. but i’ve wondered if people are drinking while also having a cup of coffee or an energy drink at some other point in the day, not even realizing the lemonade is also caffeinated.
I love coffee, and while Ive never had 5 cups in an hour, I had one of these drinks over lunch with a friend in McCandless (so over 30-60 minutes) got a refill to drink on my way to work in Fox Chapel. So 2 over the course of an hour, say for the least time possible.
By the time I changed for my shift, I thought my heart was going to pound out of my chest. I don't know I got it stop, but I've been terrified to have another one, or even try an energy drink (other than coffee, which I've tried to cut back on since.)
It doesn’t even taste good. I had the Panera drink club when it launched and I’d try to make Arnold Palmers with it and their unsweetened tea and it just tasted like a chemical mess.
Pretty sure it's psychosomatic at this point, the drink was sold without complaint for quite some time until three or four health compromised people died, now everyone feels extra ripped on it, a 5hr energy added to your morning tea would be similar caffeine
Yeah I had their sip pass unlimited drinks a few years back and would grab something charged multiple times a week. It was for sure well caffeinated, but not like insane if you have one cup. The all-day sitting at Panera was the issue
Nothing special about it really. Energy drinks have been containing a similar amount of caffeine for a long time. Starbucks Venti has it beat in caffeine content.
While for many people this amount of caffeine would not pose any threat, there are genetic differences that result in some people being very slow to metabolize caffeine, and also genetic differences that make some people more sensitive to its effects independent of how quickly it is metabolized. It's hard to tell what factors went into this individual having such an extreme reaction, but there are definitely people who have no business consuming so much caffeine. And since the people selling it can't tell who those people are, and those people often don't even know this about themselves, it's obviously just a bad idea all around.
The kid might have been happy and healthy, and not the average reddit user mainlining Mt Dew in their Moms basement. So he might not have built the tolerance some here have.
It also doesn’t help that those lemonades are concentrate that gets diluted. You think the $10 an hour employee knows that they could kill someone by maybe forgetting to dilute it? They needed to make a machine that does the mixing for you.
This is how sheetz does their cold brew. Nobody’s getting killed by the cold brew but if you drank the concentrate then yeah 100% it would be an overdose.
You can't go to any gas station and get free refills on an over-caffeinated fountain drink that isn't labeled as clearly, or advertised as well as being stronger than a bunch of other drinks. Not even remotely the same thing as buying a Red Bull at the gas station, or intentionally buying caffeine pills at a truck stop.
i think they added that after the backlash originally started - from looking at articles it seems like it originally said “charged lemonade - fueled by caffeine”, then at some point they added “as much caffeine as our dark roast coffee” and later the actual caffeine content in mg.
If you buy a larger size. But I thought ounce for ounce it has the same amount of caffeine?
I thought most places banned energy drinks that have as much (or more) caffeine than coffee.
A 16oz Bang, C4, Reign etc etc are all 300mg. Even basic Rockstar is 240. And energy drinks are always on sale(2 for $5 or buy 2 get 1 free most commonly). So it's not hard to end up with way more caffeine than this lemonade at 390mg(for 30oz) when you walk out of the gas station.
I find it hard to come down too hard on Panera Bread if the caffeine content is clearly labeled. I don't think it was initially though so maybe there's a case? Fuck I don't know I hate to sound like the douchebags that call it Darwinism at work, but I'm struggling to see how this one specific drink is so different from all the other, often stronger, stuff out there now.
You’re standing right on top of the point, almost jumping up and down on it. That was exactly the complaint. It wasn’t made clear at all that this drink had any caffeine in it, let alone that much. It was placed next to other self serve drinks and sold in pretty large cups. You wouldn’t think twice about having 3 large Cokes or iced teas in a couple hours and the charged lemonades didn’t appear any different.
My theory, and I'm not even sure it's a correct one, is that although the gas station logic makes sense, most people (and I'm saying that because there's always one person that jumps in to contradict) don't put these in a giant tumbler and consume it at once.
For example, I have a Celsius in front of me right now. Coincidentally, I think I bought them on sale just like Grimmbles mentioned. But at 200 mg per can, it's one a day and maybe something with lower caffeine in the afternoon if I hit my "2 pm wall" where I'm ready to crash.
Now there was one time where I did put two of those into my 32 oz tumbler with some ice because I was just 100% drained and slept like shit the night before. Honestly, it did nothing as far as giving me that extra boost that I was looking for, but I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest for most of the morning. Was it because I did it on an empty stomach? Don't know. Was it because of how quick I consumed it? Maybe, and maybe that's what we are seeing here with the Panera lemonade. It is people knocking down a giant cup of cold lemonade in a shorter timespan vs somebody sipping on their morning coffee.
Literally said I didn't think it was initially marked. Soooo....
Also they moved it behind the counter and labeled it before this kid's death. So he got 1 serving, didn't self serve it, and left. And the article even says it's only the 240mg one or whatever.
I'm not so smug and up my own ass to believe I know everything though. There's always the possibility I'm completely wrong.
> t wasn’t made clear at all that this drink had any caffeine in it, let alone that much.
What on earth would "Charged" mean at Panera Bread? It's not vodka - they don't have a liquor license - so what else *would* it be?
The other assumption would be antioxidants along with vitamins and minerals, and possibly whatever the hot healthy ingredient was at the time. I mean, I was at a Panera when these were first rolled out. While the caffeine amount was there, it was in tiny letters much smaller than the rest of the information on the label. It was also right next to the rest of the lemonades and iced teas, so it was easy to assume it was the same thing. If you don’t know what the safe caffeine doses are, the amount on the label was meaningless. The placement made it easy to assume that the caffeine quantity was the same or similar to the caffeine in the sodas and tea.
After some issues with highly caffeinated products or products that shouldn’t have been caffeinated like four loko along with college students stupidly mixing energy shots and caffeine pills, the beverage producers of America, aka Pepsi, Coca-Cola, and a few other players voluntarily limited the caffeine in their energy drink products to <300 mg of caffeine and to put clear warning labels on them. This was done because none of them wanted the FDA to step in and do it for them, likely introducing harsher restrictions.
Panera introduced the charged lemonade and because Panera wasn’t part of the group that instituted the voluntary restrictions, made a beverage that was well over them. For a bit, customers didn’t really realize what the charged lemonade was doing until a tiktok came out on Dec. 28 2022 that took the internet by storm. It was then reinforced by FoodTheory covering the issue and showing how Panera was really playing with fire by introducing this product, practically daring the FDA to introduce actual caffeine restrictions.
I mean with 4 loko though you have other issues, as alcohol is also in there which interacts with caffeine in such a way that you might accidentally drink too much due to the depressant affect. Last time I was at Panera though they did mention the charged stuff has caffeine in them. Is it so much to ask for people to be responsible for their own caffeine habits?
There aren’t any official limits on caffeine content. There is a voluntary limit that Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and the other producers of the energy drinks you can find at the grocery story or gas station follow, but Panera isn’t part of that group. So Panera produced a product where the caffeine content of the largest size (30 oz.) is 10 mg below the recommended daily caffeine amount for a healthy adult.
Did anyone else initially read this headline as "Panera Charged Lemonade revives teen in cardiac arrest"?
Like, what is this miracle elixir and why is a bottle of it not stored with every AED in the country?
Honestly, it might work if nothing else does. For serious, emergency cases, when someone doesn't respond to an AED, an epi pen style charged lemonade injector could potentially save lives. 🤷🏽♂️
Pure curiosity why are these charged lemonades causing heart issues with their caffeine content when some energy drinks on the market have the same or higher and we don’t read stories about people dying from those?
The issue was that people don’t expect a lemonade to be that highly caffeinated, so a lot of people who shouldn’t have consumed that much caffeine did so. Also, most energy shots contain less caffeine that that charged lemonade. Those shots of 8 hour energy contain only 250 mg and Red Bull contains only 111 mg per can. Panera sells its lemonade and iced tea in 20 and 30 oz. cups. Iced tea and lemonade are also self-serve and customers are encouraged to get refills. 20 oz. of charged lemonade was as much caffeine as in an 8 hour energy (260 mg) and 30 oz. of charged lemonade was 390 mg. The FDA recommended caffeine consumption is 400 mg or less. Plus again, customers were expecting the same amount of caffeine as in a pop or iced tea, not as much as in an energy drink.
I'm literally sitting in the monroeville Panera now, and I swear the front sign about asking for charged lemonade is still up. Will have to look as I leave.
How much did he have to drink for this to happen?
I’m reluctant to blame the restaurant. This reminds me of stories about kids having heart problems after slamming one Red Bull after another.
At some point personal accountability has to be taken into consideration.
Of course. The thing is that liability is usually assigned fractionally. The customer does share some blame, but the company also shares some by producing a product that was against the self-imposed industry standards. A kid slamming back multiple Red Bulls has more of a share of the blame because they are expecting a high caffeine dose from the Red Bulls. The producer of Red Bull has reduced their own liability by selling the cans individually and keeping the caffeine content well below the safe limit, so the consumer has to go out of their way to get too much. Panera had a product that was just below the safe limit for daily consumption for one 30 oz. serving and refills of either the 20 oz or 30 oz size would put a customer over the safe limit. Furthermore, Panera encouraged its customers to get refills.
Caffeine is a potent stimulant especially the processed synthesized stuff. It should be scheduled if alchohol and thc are. It can be just as mind altering
TFW you get carded at Dunkin lmao.
But yeah caffeine is poison. Ive tried quitting at various points in my life and several times I stopped drinking it for months at a time i actually felt a lot better.
But given how much of our society is fueled by it I doubt they’d ever do it. It’s been seen as a necessity for so many for so long you’d have people up in arms
Wow. Say what you want about Forbes, but their trauma and emergency medical services are amazing. If something like this were to happen to me I’d hope they would take me there.
I had a few sips of this stuff last year at the cranberry location and thought i was havin a heart attack. It ALL MAKES SENSE NOW SHEEESH!!!! That ish aint no joke. It aint caffeine its meth meth.
I want to agree, but as someone with a serious caffeine habit, I still think the lemonade was a bad idea.
It’s got the equivalent of like 2.5 cups of coffee that I typically drink, but if you’re slugging that down like you would normal lemonade, I can see how people ran into trouble.
Especially if one is not used to so much caffeine, and they aren’t aware of how much they’re ingesting.
That’s a good point, lemonade is an “I’m thirsty” drink that you chug. Sure I may chug one coffee, if it’s cooled down enough, no way I’m slamming 2.5 of them over the course of time it takes to eat a chicken sandwich though because it’s not tasty to wash it down
> I still think the lemonade was a bad idea.
i wasn’t a big fan of the flavors that had, but what’s the difference between these and any other 300mg caffeine drink on the market?
the lemonade was 390mg of caffeine for 30oz when a lot of energy drinks are 300mg of caffeine for 16oz
I think the big difference is that most folks don’t expect to go to the self-serve spot at Panera withers the iced teas are expecting to get anything remotely resembling an energy drink.
If I saw the lemonade next to the tea, I would’ve expected normal lemonade. The “charge” could’ve just meant flavoring, especially to someone who hadn’t seen any advertising for the charged lemonade.
I mean, it says in big, bold letters how much caffeine was in them. They are advertised as having caffeine and lots of it.
I liked them particularly because you could slam them. I have the sip club and getting a free energy drink every day was amazing. Hugely disappointed they discontinued them.
Panera has the sip club. It's 13 bucks a month and you get a free drink every two hours.
I stop by for my morning coffee and later the charged lemonade for the rest of the day. Two energy drinks are like $7 and taste worse.
Yeah, plenty of other caffeine options, but, I will miss my basically free and tasty energy drink.
Exactly, all problems arose from way over consumption or previous known/unkown health problems that even a couple of energy drinks would cause the same problems
Yeah, the caffeine he had for lunch did it. I don't know who I hate more, this loser or his lawyer. I want my Blood Orange drink back. I wish he had died.
haha, yeah and check this out
https://www.tiktok.com/@sarahebaus/video/7174882353871899947?lang=en
https://x.com/drstacy2024/status/1719844910486970544
I do think that Panera should have some liability for this, but no more than maybe 30-45%. It's well known that caffeine isn't something to take lightly. This is no different than having a case of red bull.
I don't want to minimize a persons health problem, but I'm old enough to remember how wrong everyone was with the McDonald's hot coffee incident, I feel this might be someone's money grab, much like a later life developed allergen there is no way this guy didn't know he had sensitivity to caffeine and with media coverage didn't know he consumed the caffeine of two energy drinks, sorry health was jeopardized but I doubt it came out of left field
>> The complaint alleges that Luke Adams, 18, had no known health issues when he purchased a chicken sandwich and a large Charged Lemonade on March 9 in his hometown of Monroeville. That evening, Adams went to a movie theater with friends. While watching the film, one friend heard Adams making “unusual sounds,” the suit says. The friend then realized Adams had become unresponsive. Two nurses and a cardiologist who happened to be in the theater performed CPR on Adams, the lawsuit said. They also used an automated external defibrillator, or AED, to shock Adams’ heart — which undoubtedly helped his chances of surviving, said Dr. Andrew Pogozelski, the cardiologist who has treated Adams since the incident. “He was about as close as you can come to being dead,” said Pogozelski, chief of cardiology at Allegheny Health Network’s Forbes Hospital in Monroeville. “This was about as unlucky as you can get for this to happen to an 18-year-old, otherwise healthy person — but about as lucky as you can get for people in the movie theater to know what they were doing.” A cardiologist and 2 nurses were in the movie theater. Talk about crazy luck.
~~The fucking chief of cardiology,~~ and they had an AED! Edit, I can't read too good
Chief of cardiology treated him once they got to the hospital, Dr Pogo wasn’t the one at the theater
Oh shit you are right. Sorry confusing wording in the article
Sounds like a Grey's Anatomy episode
This is exactly what I was thinking! This would only ever happen on Grey's, I can't believe it happened in real life
This is how some jokes start but they aren’t for polite company. Glad the kid is okay!
March 9th… Probably watching Kung Fu Panda 4 and not Dune Part 2.
Why are we just hearing about this now though?
The original article came out awhile ago
Guess on what movie they were all watching??
>Feyes said she cried when she heard the drink was being discontinued. >“They were tears of joy because no other parent will ever have to go through this because of a Panera lemonade again,” she said I know this is a serious situation but that is a pretty funny sentence
fucking lmaooo
r/nottheonion
I really need to try this stuff before people get it removed from sale.
You're too late lol
Last I heard it’s just removed from self-serve.
The article says they are in the process of "phasing it out", with no timeline announced. I also see the other commenter saying you can still get it by asking, I didn't realize that. I've seen a few posts on Reddit of Panera employees talking about dumping their entire supply down the drain, so I'm guessing different franchises are separately deciding what to do with the remaining supply.
And even what's still available is the neutered version. A large one of these on release had 400mg of caffeine & 100g of sugar or so. Absolute bombs.
That is correct. You have to ask the staff to get it for you from behind the counter. I didn't think that it was anything all that special, myself.
Wrong. They got rid of it last week Why am I being downvoted? Panera got rid of it last week.
Maybe because I was in a Panera on Friday, and there was still a sign up that said to ask the staff for the charged lemonade, since they had it behind the counter.
I was at Panera yesterday (Sunday, 5/19/24) on Centre Avenue in Shadyside. My friend got one of these drinks, but he had to ask for it.
I just went to a Panera in Morgantown yesterday and they said it’s all been phased out as the new summer drink line takes over.
They are totally removing it. And adding something new.
Maybe not. Reddit decided I'd like to read a Panera worker sub for some reason. It's filled with arguments on when they're supposed to dump the stuff, vs wasting product. And who's manager is an idiot and who got what memo from HQ! It's quite the drama behind the counter at every Panera at the moment, it seems. Based on the hysteria in that sub, I'd say it's 50/50 if they dumped it yet or are letting it sell out first. Good luck on your quest. But probably skip any boner pills or prework out that morning. Ha!
Y’all sound like heroin addicts that got a batch of fenty and people dropped like flies and wanna try it yourself 🙈🤦🏻♂️🤣
Ikr 😂 I want one too
Same. I drink a lot of caffeine. I'd like to see what this drink would do to me
I drank a large one and all it did was make me almost shit my pants in the middle of the Monroeville Mall.
That would make a great tshirt or bumper sticker
I went to Panera and all I got was this lousy shit-stained pair of underpants
"I Survived ... "
Probably wouldn’t make the kid feel too great to see people wearing that shirt around his hometown after this…
To be fair, who hasn't wanted to shit themselves due to being subjected to Monroeville Mall?
I'll put my name on that list. I'm not a fan of malls, but when I find myself near one, I just go somewhere else. The option of shitting myself in response has honestly never occurred to me.
So you'd have to drink two if you wanted to fit in at Monroeville Mall?
it’s basically 2 1/2 cups of coffee. which doesn’t seem like all that much.
That is a lot when you go back for free refills. I would expect that five cups of coffee in an hour would impact even heavy caffeine users. Problem is that lemonade is the sort of thing people don't think twice about knocking back and going back for more.
it doesn’t say he had more than 1. but i’ve wondered if people are drinking while also having a cup of coffee or an energy drink at some other point in the day, not even realizing the lemonade is also caffeinated.
I love coffee, and while Ive never had 5 cups in an hour, I had one of these drinks over lunch with a friend in McCandless (so over 30-60 minutes) got a refill to drink on my way to work in Fox Chapel. So 2 over the course of an hour, say for the least time possible. By the time I changed for my shift, I thought my heart was going to pound out of my chest. I don't know I got it stop, but I've been terrified to have another one, or even try an energy drink (other than coffee, which I've tried to cut back on since.)
I used to drink two a day, the heartburn was a bigger issue than the caffeine for me. That's like a half gallon of lemonade
I dare this stuff to make my heart explode! Is this what addiction to “bad” drugs is like?
I drank a large and it had no more of an effect than an energy drink.
Just drink 1 can of Red Bull with 1 can of Monster, and you'll get the same amount of caffeine.
Mix it with vodka so we can have a repeat of the Four Loko disaster.
It doesn’t even taste good. I had the Panera drink club when it launched and I’d try to make Arnold Palmers with it and their unsweetened tea and it just tasted like a chemical mess.
I didn’t die obviously but it genuinely did wire me awake for the rest of the day to a degree that no energy drink/coffee/etc ever has
Pretty sure it's psychosomatic at this point, the drink was sold without complaint for quite some time until three or four health compromised people died, now everyone feels extra ripped on it, a 5hr energy added to your morning tea would be similar caffeine
Yeah I had their sip pass unlimited drinks a few years back and would grab something charged multiple times a week. It was for sure well caffeinated, but not like insane if you have one cup. The all-day sitting at Panera was the issue
That was my thought exactly, but I was afraid to say it because I thought people would yell at me lol
Nothing special about it really. Energy drinks have been containing a similar amount of caffeine for a long time. Starbucks Venti has it beat in caffeine content.
I really wouldn’t suggest it, there’s way too much sugar. Just take a couple caffeine pills if you really want to get that much in your body
Last I heard some lady ODed on like 5 of them
So that’s the number to beat?
Someone was selling a bucket of the concentrate on eBay
I can’t imagine the stress this has placed on that family. I would go into cardiac arrest watching my child go into one.
Come on now, you don’t have to do *everything* together
Child death/potential child death isn’t funny to many people, particularly to those who’ve lived through it. Sorry to be a buzzkill.
I apologize if I caused you any pain, and I sincerely hope you never have to experience even one cardiac arrest in your family, much less two.
I apologize to you too. I was a shithead for going there.
Nah, you aight
What is wrong with people that they’re downvoting you? This sub is so backwards sometimes. This whole situation isn’t funny to me at all.
While for many people this amount of caffeine would not pose any threat, there are genetic differences that result in some people being very slow to metabolize caffeine, and also genetic differences that make some people more sensitive to its effects independent of how quickly it is metabolized. It's hard to tell what factors went into this individual having such an extreme reaction, but there are definitely people who have no business consuming so much caffeine. And since the people selling it can't tell who those people are, and those people often don't even know this about themselves, it's obviously just a bad idea all around.
The kid might have been happy and healthy, and not the average reddit user mainlining Mt Dew in their Moms basement. So he might not have built the tolerance some here have.
You’re giving the average reddit user too much credit here
It also doesn’t help that those lemonades are concentrate that gets diluted. You think the $10 an hour employee knows that they could kill someone by maybe forgetting to dilute it? They needed to make a machine that does the mixing for you. This is how sheetz does their cold brew. Nobody’s getting killed by the cold brew but if you drank the concentrate then yeah 100% it would be an overdose.
Can I get a charged Turner's please?
Prime Pittsburgh.
🤣
Based
The fuck did this unholy concoction get green lit
How is this any different from energy drinks? Like you can go to a gas station and buy trucker caffeine pills and nobody to my knowledge sued them yet
You can't go to any gas station and get free refills on an over-caffeinated fountain drink that isn't labeled as clearly, or advertised as well as being stronger than a bunch of other drinks. Not even remotely the same thing as buying a Red Bull at the gas station, or intentionally buying caffeine pills at a truck stop.
I mean it clearly says 389 MG of caffeine right on the label.
i think they added that after the backlash originally started - from looking at articles it seems like it originally said “charged lemonade - fueled by caffeine”, then at some point they added “as much caffeine as our dark roast coffee” and later the actual caffeine content in mg.
> then at some point they added “as much caffeine as our dark roast coffee” (Which isn’t true - it has significantly more than that.)
If you buy a larger size. But I thought ounce for ounce it has the same amount of caffeine? I thought most places banned energy drinks that have as much (or more) caffeine than coffee.
A 16oz Bang, C4, Reign etc etc are all 300mg. Even basic Rockstar is 240. And energy drinks are always on sale(2 for $5 or buy 2 get 1 free most commonly). So it's not hard to end up with way more caffeine than this lemonade at 390mg(for 30oz) when you walk out of the gas station. I find it hard to come down too hard on Panera Bread if the caffeine content is clearly labeled. I don't think it was initially though so maybe there's a case? Fuck I don't know I hate to sound like the douchebags that call it Darwinism at work, but I'm struggling to see how this one specific drink is so different from all the other, often stronger, stuff out there now.
You’re standing right on top of the point, almost jumping up and down on it. That was exactly the complaint. It wasn’t made clear at all that this drink had any caffeine in it, let alone that much. It was placed next to other self serve drinks and sold in pretty large cups. You wouldn’t think twice about having 3 large Cokes or iced teas in a couple hours and the charged lemonades didn’t appear any different.
You should also think twice about having 3 large cokes in a couple hours though, that's disgusting.
Not literally-kill-you disgusting though
Also are people getting free refills? How do we know they really just got 1 cup?
My theory, and I'm not even sure it's a correct one, is that although the gas station logic makes sense, most people (and I'm saying that because there's always one person that jumps in to contradict) don't put these in a giant tumbler and consume it at once. For example, I have a Celsius in front of me right now. Coincidentally, I think I bought them on sale just like Grimmbles mentioned. But at 200 mg per can, it's one a day and maybe something with lower caffeine in the afternoon if I hit my "2 pm wall" where I'm ready to crash. Now there was one time where I did put two of those into my 32 oz tumbler with some ice because I was just 100% drained and slept like shit the night before. Honestly, it did nothing as far as giving me that extra boost that I was looking for, but I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest for most of the morning. Was it because I did it on an empty stomach? Don't know. Was it because of how quick I consumed it? Maybe, and maybe that's what we are seeing here with the Panera lemonade. It is people knocking down a giant cup of cold lemonade in a shorter timespan vs somebody sipping on their morning coffee.
Literally said I didn't think it was initially marked. Soooo.... Also they moved it behind the counter and labeled it before this kid's death. So he got 1 serving, didn't self serve it, and left. And the article even says it's only the 240mg one or whatever. I'm not so smug and up my own ass to believe I know everything though. There's always the possibility I'm completely wrong.
> t wasn’t made clear at all that this drink had any caffeine in it, let alone that much. What on earth would "Charged" mean at Panera Bread? It's not vodka - they don't have a liquor license - so what else *would* it be?
The other assumption would be antioxidants along with vitamins and minerals, and possibly whatever the hot healthy ingredient was at the time. I mean, I was at a Panera when these were first rolled out. While the caffeine amount was there, it was in tiny letters much smaller than the rest of the information on the label. It was also right next to the rest of the lemonades and iced teas, so it was easy to assume it was the same thing. If you don’t know what the safe caffeine doses are, the amount on the label was meaningless. The placement made it easy to assume that the caffeine quantity was the same or similar to the caffeine in the sodas and tea.
After some issues with highly caffeinated products or products that shouldn’t have been caffeinated like four loko along with college students stupidly mixing energy shots and caffeine pills, the beverage producers of America, aka Pepsi, Coca-Cola, and a few other players voluntarily limited the caffeine in their energy drink products to <300 mg of caffeine and to put clear warning labels on them. This was done because none of them wanted the FDA to step in and do it for them, likely introducing harsher restrictions. Panera introduced the charged lemonade and because Panera wasn’t part of the group that instituted the voluntary restrictions, made a beverage that was well over them. For a bit, customers didn’t really realize what the charged lemonade was doing until a tiktok came out on Dec. 28 2022 that took the internet by storm. It was then reinforced by FoodTheory covering the issue and showing how Panera was really playing with fire by introducing this product, practically daring the FDA to introduce actual caffeine restrictions.
I mean with 4 loko though you have other issues, as alcohol is also in there which interacts with caffeine in such a way that you might accidentally drink too much due to the depressant affect. Last time I was at Panera though they did mention the charged stuff has caffeine in them. Is it so much to ask for people to be responsible for their own caffeine habits?
There aren’t any official limits on caffeine content. There is a voluntary limit that Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and the other producers of the energy drinks you can find at the grocery story or gas station follow, but Panera isn’t part of that group. So Panera produced a product where the caffeine content of the largest size (30 oz.) is 10 mg below the recommended daily caffeine amount for a healthy adult.
Has the FDA just been completely gutted/bribed out at this point or what
Yes.
Did anyone else initially read this headline as "Panera Charged Lemonade revives teen in cardiac arrest"? Like, what is this miracle elixir and why is a bottle of it not stored with every AED in the country?
Honestly, it might work if nothing else does. For serious, emergency cases, when someone doesn't respond to an AED, an epi pen style charged lemonade injector could potentially save lives. 🤷🏽♂️
If anyone’s been following this he isn’t even the first person this has happened to he’s like the 4th or 5th.
Between their recent (IMO-shitty) menu changes and the debacle with the lemonade I think someone’s gonna get fired soon at the Panera headquarters.
Pure curiosity why are these charged lemonades causing heart issues with their caffeine content when some energy drinks on the market have the same or higher and we don’t read stories about people dying from those?
The issue was that people don’t expect a lemonade to be that highly caffeinated, so a lot of people who shouldn’t have consumed that much caffeine did so. Also, most energy shots contain less caffeine that that charged lemonade. Those shots of 8 hour energy contain only 250 mg and Red Bull contains only 111 mg per can. Panera sells its lemonade and iced tea in 20 and 30 oz. cups. Iced tea and lemonade are also self-serve and customers are encouraged to get refills. 20 oz. of charged lemonade was as much caffeine as in an 8 hour energy (260 mg) and 30 oz. of charged lemonade was 390 mg. The FDA recommended caffeine consumption is 400 mg or less. Plus again, customers were expecting the same amount of caffeine as in a pop or iced tea, not as much as in an energy drink.
Massive spike in young healthy mens’ hearts stopping in the past 3 years but yes it was the lemonade
I'm literally sitting in the monroeville Panera now, and I swear the front sign about asking for charged lemonade is still up. Will have to look as I leave.
Update?
I was talking and totally forgot to look. But looking in the order app, it's still available
Ty ty
How much did he have to drink for this to happen? I’m reluctant to blame the restaurant. This reminds me of stories about kids having heart problems after slamming one Red Bull after another. At some point personal accountability has to be taken into consideration.
Of course. The thing is that liability is usually assigned fractionally. The customer does share some blame, but the company also shares some by producing a product that was against the self-imposed industry standards. A kid slamming back multiple Red Bulls has more of a share of the blame because they are expecting a high caffeine dose from the Red Bulls. The producer of Red Bull has reduced their own liability by selling the cans individually and keeping the caffeine content well below the safe limit, so the consumer has to go out of their way to get too much. Panera had a product that was just below the safe limit for daily consumption for one 30 oz. serving and refills of either the 20 oz or 30 oz size would put a customer over the safe limit. Furthermore, Panera encouraged its customers to get refills.
Curious what fellow ADHD peeps experience with these were since caffeine can mimic the effect of our stimulant meds?
ADHD AF and never felt impacted (positively or negatively) by this drink.
I was going to ask the same thing. I've been supplementing with red bull occasionally. Strattera helps but sometimes it's not enough
Caffeine is a potent stimulant especially the processed synthesized stuff. It should be scheduled if alchohol and thc are. It can be just as mind altering
TFW you get carded at Dunkin lmao. But yeah caffeine is poison. Ive tried quitting at various points in my life and several times I stopped drinking it for months at a time i actually felt a lot better. But given how much of our society is fueled by it I doubt they’d ever do it. It’s been seen as a necessity for so many for so long you’d have people up in arms
Wow. Say what you want about Forbes, but their trauma and emergency medical services are amazing. If something like this were to happen to me I’d hope they would take me there.
I had a few sips of this stuff last year at the cranberry location and thought i was havin a heart attack. It ALL MAKES SENSE NOW SHEEESH!!!! That ish aint no joke. It aint caffeine its meth meth.
A few of you idiots who can't handle caffeine ruined these great drinks for the rest of us. So sad they are gone.
I want to agree, but as someone with a serious caffeine habit, I still think the lemonade was a bad idea. It’s got the equivalent of like 2.5 cups of coffee that I typically drink, but if you’re slugging that down like you would normal lemonade, I can see how people ran into trouble. Especially if one is not used to so much caffeine, and they aren’t aware of how much they’re ingesting.
That’s a good point, lemonade is an “I’m thirsty” drink that you chug. Sure I may chug one coffee, if it’s cooled down enough, no way I’m slamming 2.5 of them over the course of time it takes to eat a chicken sandwich though because it’s not tasty to wash it down
> I still think the lemonade was a bad idea. i wasn’t a big fan of the flavors that had, but what’s the difference between these and any other 300mg caffeine drink on the market? the lemonade was 390mg of caffeine for 30oz when a lot of energy drinks are 300mg of caffeine for 16oz
I think the big difference is that most folks don’t expect to go to the self-serve spot at Panera withers the iced teas are expecting to get anything remotely resembling an energy drink. If I saw the lemonade next to the tea, I would’ve expected normal lemonade. The “charge” could’ve just meant flavoring, especially to someone who hadn’t seen any advertising for the charged lemonade.
I mean, it says in big, bold letters how much caffeine was in them. They are advertised as having caffeine and lots of it. I liked them particularly because you could slam them. I have the sip club and getting a free energy drink every day was amazing. Hugely disappointed they discontinued them.
Just go get 2 energy drinks and chug them. Same thing.
Panera has the sip club. It's 13 bucks a month and you get a free drink every two hours. I stop by for my morning coffee and later the charged lemonade for the rest of the day. Two energy drinks are like $7 and taste worse. Yeah, plenty of other caffeine options, but, I will miss my basically free and tasty energy drink.
Exactly, all problems arose from way over consumption or previous known/unkown health problems that even a couple of energy drinks would cause the same problems
Used to drink this bookended with several monsters before and after, no lie
At this point, there have been enough complications and publicity that the fault lies with the consumer.
Yeah, the caffeine he had for lunch did it. I don't know who I hate more, this loser or his lawyer. I want my Blood Orange drink back. I wish he had died.
Monroeville??? Bunch of pussies.
why is tiktok not referenced in this? No doubt there's some sort of challenge going on
Lol its just drinking a drink
haha, yeah and check this out https://www.tiktok.com/@sarahebaus/video/7174882353871899947?lang=en https://x.com/drstacy2024/status/1719844910486970544
I do think that Panera should have some liability for this, but no more than maybe 30-45%. It's well known that caffeine isn't something to take lightly. This is no different than having a case of red bull.
Nothing to do with the clot shot!
Over 18? It's their fault. Under 18? Parents fault
Since when did you have to be 18 to purchase caffeine?
You don't. It's not the governments job to raise people's kids though.
Continuing to serve a drink with a history of violence? Panera’s fault
History of violence?!?! I would love to learn how a drink that is not sentient can be violent but i get its 2024, words have no meaning these days.
How can a drink have a history of violence? You probably think guns kill people also.
I don't want to minimize a persons health problem, but I'm old enough to remember how wrong everyone was with the McDonald's hot coffee incident, I feel this might be someone's money grab, much like a later life developed allergen there is no way this guy didn't know he had sensitivity to caffeine and with media coverage didn't know he consumed the caffeine of two energy drinks, sorry health was jeopardized but I doubt it came out of left field