How bad is Red Bull---can it kill?

Well I can imagine that supershots of caffeine can do not so good things for people who have say congenital heart defects. I suspect it was because of his abuse of said energy drink plus other bad habits (pulling an overnighter and/or other type of reckless behavior) just might have tipped this supposedly healthy young person over the edge.

I have yet to partake in any of these energy drinks (don't need em) INTENTIONALLY staying away from them. Especially Five Hour Energy Drink which is a several thousand percent shot of several vitamin B vitamins which ultimately sounds like an eventual overdose of vitamin B. They will likely find something bad associated with that habit of flooding ones body with that much vitamin B over the long term.

If you have a heart or arrhythmia issue, it can be bad - very bad. However, if you're well, it's not bad in moderation for some individuals.

There's a high quantity of caffeine, some amino acids, and vitamin B in 5-hr Energy drink. The Vitamin B RDA for adults is 25-100 mcg. It's far wiser to get your Vit B from your foods than it is through supplements. I've read that people (10-30%) over 50 yrs of age may have an inability to absorb Vit B easily from foods so supplements of Vit B can help them.

Incidentally, the amount of caffeine listed in 5-Hour Energy is listed at about 207 mg, whereas the avg cup of coffee is about 100-150 mg.

So if you drink a bottle of it, then you just drank 2 cups of coffee in one small bottle..at ONCE! something you might never think of doing in real life.

In a NY Times article 2 yrs ago, 13 deaths were POSSIBLY associated with ingestion of 5-Hr Energy drink. However, it is unclear whether the cause was excess caffeine, Vit B excess and/or a substance called taurine. Another drink associated as a risk is Monster Energy drink.

Five Hour Energy Drink - that was the one that I received a free sample of -- it was in a nice pink bottle to entice women to try. I had it in my desk figuring what the heck maybe I'll try it when I am particually tired. Never did as I just had this odd feeling about it.

After this happened -- I just tossed it into the trash. I cup of coffee or tea is about all I need for a pick me up. If I need anything more to wake me up, I figure then I need to sleep any way.

I "heard" he drank alot of the stuff.

It is always a possibility that someone appearing healthy could have an underlying heart issue which added with overdrinking such items seems could cause a problem.

I agree. FWIW, a lot of people die of 'silent' heart attacks.

Red Bull is basically lots of sugar plus lots of caffeine plus red color plus water. I suppose such a mix could cause problems if the young man you worked with had an undiagnosed diabetes problem, or an allergy to caffeine. But other than that, I don't think so. Red Bull is over-hyped, but not toxic --- at least not as toxic than peanuts, or milk, or fish are to people with allergies against them.

So sad, whatever the cause.

I've read that when young athletes drop dead on the playing field that they are often kids who have been diagnosed as ADD and are taking stimulants that aggravate undiagnosed heart problems.

I imagine large doses of caffeine could have the same effect.

However, usually they die while being active, not in their sleep.

There are a lot of things that could cause a apparently healthy young person to die suddenly (like an aneurism) so I wouldn't be too quick to point the finger at energy drinks.

It was a while ago. I was so upset about this that I couldn't even write about it at the time. And such a really genuinely kind person.

People were suspect of it having a part -- especially in light there was a history of heart disease in his family. I honestly do not know further and to be kind to the family have never asked.

At this point, more a wonder how bad these things are --

It's simple, yet nobody answers... YES IT CAN KILL YOU!!!! That's your answer.
Who knows what kind of meds he was on, health conditions, family history of heart problems, people dont need that ****, drink tea

I don't think it can kill anyone who wasn't previously at risk, but it's not good for you, and it probably screws up your brain chemistry more than it does your heart.

Drink water, 100% juice, coffee, tea, beer, wine or spirits. Avoid all sugar-less drinks and hyper sugar drinks.

I had always thought of Red Bull as a beer. A quick Googling seems to confirm, a lager

http://www.thebeerstore.ca/beers/red-bull

Here and there we also run into a suggestion that it is or was also a malt liquor

https://www.google.ca/#q=is+red+bull+a+beer

http://www.funadvice.com/q/red_bull

the RED BULL of which the OP is based is an "ENERGY DRINK" , namely a high caffeinated, High B vitamin, high taurine and high sugar SODA POP. Taurine with caffeine is a multiple stimulant. Then we add vitamins B6 and B12 and its a real eye opener.
They recommend that any folks with At FIB or High BP, just stay away from the combination because the side effects are a super shot of cardiac stimulation.


Kids do shooters of Red Bull and Vodka. The result is that they become wide -awake drunks.

Heres a picture of the Red Bull they are talking about.

this is also noted for causing some serious heart condition whackiness - nothing like mixing uppers and downers

talk to your daughters about it - and all of the energy drinks

lots of coaches keep these on hand for high school sports events

Good point there.

Thanks - actually I have....I try to make it clear the difference between say Gatorade and some other water type drinks and red bull and these energy drinks. I've let them know not to drink red bull.

It actually says it should not be given to children.

I watched it. Where's my t-shirt, dammit.

Redbull tastes like vomit koolaid.

I don't recall ever drinking an energy drink.