UK Man Dies of Caffeine Overdose - From Eating Energy Mints

A 40 year old man in the UK died from a caffeine overdose from eating energy mints. The Daily Mirror Reports:

A dad died of a massive caffeine overdose after eating mints bought from his local sweet shop.  John Jackson had no idea the Hero Instant Energy Mints were packed full of the stimulant.

The 40-year-old was found dead by relatives at his home.

Just one of the sweets is said to contain more caffeine than a whole can of a high-energy drink like Red Bull. At an inquest in Smethwick yesterday, coroner Robin Balmain said he would be writing to the Department of Health demanding answers over the death of the former painter and decorator.    

He said: "This is a potentially very dangerous situation. The level of caffeine is enormous.      

 " I think it is as certain as it can be that Mr Jackson didn't know that he was going to expose himself to this sort of danger.

Mr Jackson was found dead by his estranged partner and stepdaughter at his flat in Walsall Road, Darlaston on May 2.

The UK-produced mints are sold alongside other sweets, but shocked makers last night stressed they had taken a series of measures to warn about the high caffeine content.

A postmortem examination showed Mr Jackson had 155mg of caffeine per litre of blood in his system, yet just 10mg would have been considered an overdose, according to pathologist Dr Dragana Cvijan.

Hero Energy Mints

 Meanwhile, the company that makes the enery mints issued a statement:

Paul Hayes and Steve Hones, directors of the Birkenhead company behind the mints, said they were ‘‘shocked and deeply concerned’’.

Their statement read: "Both myself and HERO co-founder, Steve, are greatly shocked by this news and are deeply concerned.

"Firstly, all of our thoughts and condolences go to Mr Jackson's family and friends. This is terrible news and something no one should have to go through."Here at HERO, we fully understand the associated risk and dangerous of caffeine and its consumption.

"We are extremely vocal about these risks and highlight them at every available opportunity.

Our customers health and safety is the most important thing to us and we thus already action the below:

·         Clear writing on each tin stating they contain caffeine. We also have a clear warning stating "WARNING: CONTAINS HIGH LEVELS OF CAFFEINE. Not recommended for pregnant women, children under 16 & caffeine sensitive individuals. DO NOT exceed 5 HERO Mints in a 24 hour period."

·         Clear writing on the shelf display pack stating the same as the tin: "WARNING: CONTAINS HIGH LEVELS OF CAFFEINE. Not recommended for pregnant women, children under 16 & caffeine sensitive individuals. DO NOT exceed 5 HERO Mints in a 24 hour period."

·         The website has an entire page dedicated to responsible use of caffeine, going into great detail, and can be found here: http://heroenergy.co.uk/responsible-use

·         We produce our mints, and pack them, with pharmaceutical grade companies to make sure they are safe and to the highest qualtiy. We would not settle with a standard candy/mint producer.
We also add additional attributes to our mints to stop consumers eating too many in one sitting. These include:

·         There are high levels on menthol in each mint (much like a Fisherman's Friend) to put people off eating many of them at once.

·         They are priced at an extreme premium to put people off from buying many tins at once.

·         The bitterness of the caffeine comes through the mint to make sure consumer realise they are more than just a mint.

·         The effect of the caffeine is very quick so after even just one mint you realise it.

Making sure children under 16 do not abuse caffeine is something that is particularly important to us. We believe children of this age do not need caffeine stimulants and we are currently formulating a plan to take this further in the UK.

The levels you have mentioned would have meant Mr Jackson must have consumed over 300 of our mints, which is staggering. After 5 mints, over a 24 hour, period most people would find it difficult to consume anymore.

We are still a relatively young business (formed in 2011) and this is the first major incident we have heard of in relation to our product.

All this being said, we are very saddened by the news and will immediately look into how we can further make our consumers aware of the risks of caffeinated products."

This story was originally published by the Daily Mirror