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05/17/2024 06:24:21 am

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It's Not a Cup of Coffee: FDA Warns Against Caffeine Powder After Ohio Teen’s Death

(Photo : Reuters)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns people to stay away from caffeine powder saying that it is considering imposing stricter regulations on the substance following the death of an Ohio teen. 

Logan Stiner, an 18-year-old athlete and prom king from Keystone High School was found dead on May 27, 2014 after ingesting a fatal amount of caffeine powder.

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An autopsy revealed that Stiner had more than 70 micrograms of caffeine per milliliter of blood in his system. The amount of caffeine is 23 times more than that found in most coffee or soda drinkers. 

The FDA says that 5-10 grams of coffeine powder can be toxic to adults, while 3 grams can be toxic to children.  A teaspoon of pure caffeine powder is said to be equal to 25 cups of coffee.

Unlike caffeine that is added to soda, caffeine powder is currently unregulated.

It is sold online as a dietary supplement and is used by many teens, young adults and exercise enthusiasts as a stimulant and weight control drug. It is sold on both Amazon and eBay at around US$15 a pound.

Dr. Henry Spiller, a director of a poison control center at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, said that three people were checked into the center about a week ago due to caffeine powder poisoning.

"I can't believe you can buy this," Spiller said regarding his patients, "Honestly, I mean, it's frightening. It makes no sense to me."

In a school assembly a few weeks before Stiner's death, the teen and his peers were warned about the dangers of narcotics and prescription painkillers. No one could have predicted that caffeine, one of the world's most widely consumed substances, would kill him.  

Stiner's mother, who didn't know that her son consumed caffeine powder, grieves for her son, saying that he was days away from graduating and was planning to study at the University of Toledo. 

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