Lawsuits have blamed the highly caffeinated drink for at least two deaths.

A Panera Bread spokesperson says the restaurant chain is phasing out its Charged Lemonade, a highly caffeinated beverage that has been blamed for at least two deaths in lawsuits.

The beverages prompted controversy in October following a lawsuit filed by the family of 21-year-old Sarah Katz, a University of Pennsylvania student with a heart condition who died after consuming Charged Lemonade. A second lawsuit was filed in December by the family of Dennis Brown, a Florida man with a chromosomal deficiency disorder and a developmental delay who also died after drinking a Charged Lemonade.

A third lawsuit was filed in January by Lauren Skerritt, a 28-year-old Rhode Island woman, which claimed the beverage left her with “permanent cardiac injuries.”

Panera previously advertised its Charged Lemonade as “Plant-based and Clean with as much caffeine as our Dark Roast coffee.” But the lawsuits said that at 390 milligrams, a large, 30-fluid-ounce Charged Lemonade has more caffeine in total than any size of Panera’s dark roast coffee, referring to the amount of caffeine that is in the drink with no ice. Panera has since updated its nutrition information to reflect how much caffeine is in the Charged Lemonade with ice, listing the large size of the blood orange Charged Lemonade, for example, as having 302 milligrams.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, healthy adults can generally safely consume 400 milligrams of caffeine a day.

  • psmgx@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    38
    ·
    edit-2
    6 months ago

    Aye, that’s the weirdest part. Panera is like the basic mom place, coffee and bagels and sandwiches. Seems like a demographic mismatch, and not being blatent about the caffeine intake literally got people killed.

    Point is, shouldn’t have been a thing and should have gone away sooner.

    • Zahille7@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      6 months ago

      Right? Like I feel like it’s already run its entire promotional campaign course and they’re announcing this just because they’re “done with it” (for now at least. Who knows about next year).

      Like it’s been the 4-6 months or however long they originally planned it for and are just finishing up the cycle.

    • BakerBagel@midwest.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      15
      ·
      6 months ago

      It’s because caffeine is mote addictive than nicotine. You drink the chatged lemonade at Panera during your lunch break and think “wow! I felt great after my working kunch at Panera! I’m going back there more!” But that’s just because you are caffeinated up to your gills without realizing it. It’s the exact same as the story of a Chinese restaurant putting opium in the noodles to get people addicted to the shop.

        • Malfeasant@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          6 months ago

          I’m not sure I agree - I’ve quit smoking hundreds of times, I’ve never been able to quit caffeine.

          • rdyoung@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            6 months ago

            My body and brain are mostly caffeine at this point, so I know a thing or two. I’ve also done more than a few rounds of cutting caffeine out for a few weeks or more.

            In most people you don’t have to have a protocol for caffeine withdrawal or eliminating it completely. It sucks really bad for about 48 hours with a headache that is just shy of a migraine but once you get past that, all that is left is being a little more tired and run down until your body starts to adjust.

            I’m not sure if you meant that for me or the dorkus I responded to but I already knew most if not all of that.

      • tal@lemmy.today
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        6 months ago

        I dunno, dude. My local Panera’s is pretty much the only restaurant I’ve seen that has zero-caffine diet colas in their soda machines (was right next to said charged lemonade).