The 29-year-old man, Tom Mansfield, was a personal fitness trainer who regularly ordered supplements. This time, he ordered a 100-gram caffeine pack to use in his pre-workout drinks. However, by measuring the amount of powder, he made a mistakebecause of which he drank a lethal dose of caffeine.
The recommended dose of caffeine powder was 60 to 300 milligrams (0.002 and 0.01 ounces), but the scale Mansfield used had a starting weight of 2 grams, according to the BBC. This meant that Mansfield ended up consuming several grams of the powder, the equivalent of 200 cups of coffee.
Immediately following drinking the drink on January 5, 2021, Mansfield clutched his chest and said that his heart began to beat very fast. Then he foamed at the mouth, and his wife called an ambulance. Mansfield was taken to the hospital following cardiac arrest and on the same day doctors pronounced him dead.
The coroner determined that Mansfield’s caffeine level was 392 milligrams per litre. A typical caffeine level following drinking a cup of coffee is 2 to 4 mg per liter. Caffeine powders can be dangerous because they are much more potent than caffeinated drinks like coffee. It is strictly forbidden to use them without a doctor’s prescription or in the wrong dosage.
