Big Gulpin'

People who know about nutrition, the science of fueling one's body with the right kind of food and drink to keep our precious engines running, never recommend cheating.  They will tell you that crash diets are foolish, that binging and purging is worse than foolish, and not a one of them will recommend guzzling caffeinated energy drinks over getting enough sleep and taking in proper nutrients.

Nick Mitchell is not one of those people. 

Nick is an Englishman, father of three, divorcé, and an avid karaoke participant. (Would that be a "karaoker"?)

He eight years ago saw fit to gulp 25 energy drinks - Red Bulls, if you please -  and paid a mighty price. Quite frankly, he overdosed on caffeine to such an extent that he suffered a brain hemorrhage and a series of mini-strokes.

To be 100% accurate, he downed 23 Red Bulls and two Monsters, and now he has trouble remembering and pronouncing words due to the strokes.

“Caffeine can cause a hyperactivity episode in the brain,” neurologist Mohammed Dashti says. “Too many of these in a short space of time can lead to a rapid surge of blood flow and the narrowing of vessels. This is a very dangerous combination and can cause the rupture of a blood vessel that can lead to a bleed on the brain or a heart attack.”

The Red Bull people (Red Bullians?) report that each 250 ml can of Red Bull contains 80 mg of caffeine.  So that is about as much caffeine as you get in a cuppa coffee. 

And those who study such things say you can swill down 400 mg of caffeine a day - that's five 250 ml Red Bulls, or five cups of coffee - without doing harm, all other things being equal.

BUT because people seem unable to strike that happy medium, and insist on chugging an ocean of Red Bulls or whatever other go-go juice they get at the Exxon, Mitchell is beating the drums to have these drinks banned.

“These drinks nearly killed me. I was so close to death and thought I might not make it through surgery,” Mitchell told the news in England. “They should not be sold. They are as bad as drugs and should be banned.”

Seems to me, this is one of those deals where people ought to be able to tell the difference between drinking an appropriate, healthy amount of energy drinks, and drinking 25 of them.

It's really not that difficult, is it?