News Desk
Highly caffeinated drinks have become a cultural staple. But following a death allegedly related to Panera Bread’s Charged Lemonade, has our collective obsession with energy drinks become unsafe?
Whenever he visited his local branch of Panera Bread in Fleming Island, Florida, it was Dennis Brown’s habit to order three drinks in a row. On September 28, and again on October 2, and the 4th, 5th, 7th, and 9th—the day Brown died—his drink of choice was Panera Bread’s Charged Lemonade.
A 20-ounce serving of Charged Lemonade contains 260 milligrams of caffeine, while the 30-ounce cup has 390 mg—close to the US Food and Drug Administration’s recommended daily limit. It isn’t known which size Brown, 46, consumed on October 9, but after finishing his dinner, he left the American fast casual restaurant and suffered a fatal cardiac arrest on a nearby sidewalk shortly after.
A wrongful-death lawsuit filed against Panera Bread on behalf of Brown’s family states that he usually drank iced tea, root beer, or water and was allegedly unaware that Charged Lemonade contains caffeine, as the lawsuit says it wasn’t advertised as an energy drink. Elizabeth Crawford, the attorney representing Brown’s family, has claimed the drink is “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
Panera Bread says it’s not to blame. “Panera Bread expresses our deep sympathy to Mr. Brown’s family. Based on our investigation, we believe his unfortunate passing was not caused by one of the company’s products,” Jessica Hesselschwerdt, senior director of public relations at Panera Bread, told WIRED. Hesselschwerdt says the case against the company is “without merit,” that Panera “stands firmly by the safety of our products,” and that Charged Lemonade contains “the same amount of caffeine per ounce as a dark roast coffee.”
That may be true. But while health bodies advise that consuming caffeine is OK, as long as we don’t overdo it, in recent years caffeinated drinks have been getting bigger and stronger—so much so that regulators are stepping in.
Nervous Energy
Panera Bread’s drinks aren’t the only ones to have raised concern. In January 2022, the internet found itself in a frenzy over Prime, an energy drink developed by YouTube stars turned boxers Logan Paul and KSI. Sold in neon-colored cans and advertising zero sugar and vegetarian-friendly ingredients, the brand was an immediate hit among the influencer’s combined—and often very young—40 million Instagram followers, who posted their own viral videos of themselves frantically searching for cans of the drink.
By July, US Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer had requested an FDA investigation into the brand, claiming parents were unwittingly serving their children a “cauldron of caffeine” when they purchased the drink. (Prime contains 200 mg of caffeine per 12 ounces—roughly equal to two average cups of coffee.) In response to Schumer’s calls, the company released a public statement claiming that “Prime energy … contains a comparable amount of caffeine to other top-selling energy drinks.”
The drink is still for sale in the US and UK, but it was one of six energy drinks recalled in Canada earlier this year, with new legislation outlawing drinks containing more than 180 mg of caffeine in a single serving. In a video after the announcement, Paul said that the drinks are compliant with each country’s specific regulations, claiming, “The crazy part about that is, we don’t even distribute Prime Energy in Canada.”
Lithuania, Latvia, Turkey, and Poland have also implemented a general ban on the sale of energy drinks to under-18s, with a UK government ban consultation stalling during the pandemic.
These moves are a response to a modern trend—the rise of stronger and stronger drinks—but also part of a pattern that dates back over a century. The US Department of Agriculture voiced worries about the excessive amounts of caffeine in Coca-Cola as early as 1909. The US Pure Food and Drug Act was amended in 1912, adding caffeine to the list of “habit-forming” substances that should be clearly announced on food labels. As a result, Coke cut its caffeine levels in half.
Today, Coca-Cola would barely register as an energy drink, containing 34 mg of caffeine per 12-ounce serving. (Diet Coke is slightly more caffeinated, at 46 mg per 12 ounces.) Some same-size caffeinated drinks available today contain 300 to 400 mg.
“Energy drinks are safe in the same way that a doughnut is safe—one every now and again is fine, but eating too many will exceed recommended intake for calories, sugar, and fat,” says nutrition therapist and author Ian Marber.
Marber explains that caffeine has a similar chemical structure to adenosine, a substance that is part of the process of creating energy, and acts like a neurotransmitter in the brain. “In essence, adenosine promotes sleep, but metabolites in caffeine prevent it from doing its job, promoting alertness in place,” he explains. “This in turn triggers the adrenal glands to produce adrenaline and cortisol, both of which make us feel alert and capable.” The effects can last for around four hours and can be useful in small doses. But exceed the limits and you might experience anxiety, fatigue, and interrupted sleep patterns.
“What makes a substance toxic is the dose,” says Alex Ruani, a doctoral researcher at University College London and chief science educator at the Health Sciences Academy. Coffee is packed with caffeine—66 mg for a “tall” Americano or latte at Starbucks in the UK, 150 mg in the US—but “most energy drinks have exorbitant amounts of caffeine, ranging from 60 milligrams to 200 milligrams plus,” she says.
As well as containing vast amounts of caffeine, the added ingredients in some energy drinks can also be harmful. “Energy drinks often contain other stimulants like B vitamins, L-carnitine, L-theanine, and glucuronolactone,” says Ruani. “When combined, drinkers are faced with a potentially hazardous cocktail that can upset several body systems, including the brain and the heart.” It’s also possible to become addicted to them. “Both sugar and caffeine have addictive properties,” says Ruani.
The Road to Hell … Is Paved With Influencers
The popularity of energy drinks has been on the rise for decades—and much of their success rests not on their sugary, stimulating formulations but on their marketing.
Lucozade (then called Glucozade), perhaps the first drink that would be deemed an energy drink by modern standards, launched in 1927. But it wasn’t until the rise of Red Bull in 1987 that energy drinks began their modern associations—first with extreme sports and then gaming. Energy drinks were no longer just a health tonic, as once advertised, but an essential lifestyle component.
Red Bull, which sold more than 11 billion cans in 2022, and Monster Energy are the two leading energy drinks in the United States, with Celsius, Bang Energy, and Rockstar rounding out the most popular choices. Red Bull is also the leading energy drink in the UK, generating £349 million ($445 million) in sales in 2023, well ahead of its nearest competitor, Monster, at £289 million. Worldwide, the energy drinks market is set to be worth $108.4 billion by 2031, up from $45.8 billion (£35.9 billion) in 2020.
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