On May 27, an Ohio teenager was found dead in his home, the . The tragedy could have fueled the energy drink debate, which has and rages on due to alleging drinks like Red Bull contain unsafe levels of stimulants. But no mention of these. That鈥檚 because the teenager, Logan Stiner, didn鈥檛 chug a Red Bull or a Monster Energy Drink before he died; he ingested caffeine powder.
Caffeine powder is your favorite stimulant in its purest form, either produced synthetically or extracted from foods that naturally contain caffeine, like coffee beans and kola nuts. It鈥檚 easy to buy the fine, white powder in bulk on the Internet. It鈥檚 completely legal, and there鈥檚 no age restriction. One hundred grams of the stuff costs just .
Why the heck would anybody buy pure caffeine? that it can 鈥渋ncrease alertness, improve concentration, and enhance mood.鈥 Caffeine has also been shown to improve athletic performance by warding off mental and physical fatigue, and reducing the perception of pain.
As , 鈥渆nergy-boosting foods racked up more than $1.6 billion in domestic retail sales鈥 in 2012, up nearly 50 percent from 2007. But consumers know those are jacked-up prices, and some try to make their own. Enter caffeine powder.
Many people use the powder to make caffeinated beverages and foods on the cheap. But dosing is a huge concern. If you鈥檙e getting your caffeine from powder, it can be very difficult to mete out a proper amount without an electronic scale. And you can鈥檛 just mix the stuff into foods, or you risk spreading it unevenly throughout whatever you鈥檙e making. You need to .听
As Popular Science writes, a pegs about five grams as the potentially lethal limit for caffeine ingestion. That would require drinking more than six gallons of McDonald鈥檚 coffee, but only 2.5 teaspoons of caffeine powder. This is likely why there have already been a handful of聽鈥攊ncluding the Ohio teen. 鈥淪ince it鈥檚 a powder, he probably [didn鈥檛] know how much he was taking,鈥 Stiner鈥檚 coroner .
Most powder manufacturers recommend taking in no more than 200 milligrams per day, or one-tenth of a teaspoon. As we鈥檝e reported before, caffeine鈥檚 athletic benefits appear to top out at doses higher than three milligrams per kilogram of body weight (about 2.5 cups of coffee for a 150-pound person). After that there鈥檚 a plateau until you consume twice that amount, at which point negative effects emerge: jitters, headaches, and irregular heartbeat.听
So choose your caffeine wisely. While there鈥檚 no doubt it can give you a nice boost, 鈥渋t鈥檚 so lethal if taken in the wrong dose,鈥 as coroner Nigel Chapman . 鈥淎nd here we see the consequences.鈥澛