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.

    • thecarninja@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      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
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        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
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      1 year ago

      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
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        1 year ago

        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
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          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
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      1 year ago

      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
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        1 year ago

        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
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          1 year ago

          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
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            1 year ago

            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.

            • PurplePropagule@sh.itjust.works
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              1 year ago

              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.