The LD50 for caffeine in humans is 150-200mg/kg, so if you weighed only 36kg, that ain’t enough caffeine to kill you.
Comment on Guinness wasn't proud of this one.
LurkingLuddite@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
Fake. 36 red bulls would literally kill a horse, let alone a human, even if they weighed as much as a horse.
ouRKaoS@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
LurkingLuddite@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
Go ahead and test those numbers yourself.bReport back to us how 20 grams of caffeine goes.
BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
One thing is how you’d feel, another is survivability. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine states that LD~50~ for oral caffeine ingestion in rats is 192ppm, and only estimates the value for humans. Wikipedia doesn’t exactly state it but it’s safe to assume that the surviving 50% of rats will definitely not have had a good time though.
But “36 red bulls” is how much? I can buy red bull in 0.25l and 0.5l cans in local stores, what is available in the US in unknown to me, so I’ll assume equivalent can sizes. So between 9l and 18l of red bull over about 11hrs. IDK that sounds like a lot of fluid no matter what. Maybe the electrolytes in the red bull will prevent water intoxication, but he’d definitely have had to pee a lot. Perhaps his kidneys would have a hard time following along with the excess electrolytes, but enough to become hypertonic?
Anyway a liter of red bull contains 320mg of caffeine, and thus 9l is 2.88g and 18l is 5.76g. Assuming a 100kg human body that’s 28.8-57.6ppm spread out over 11hrs.
Had the caffeine been ingested all at once, then he’d at worst have hit 30% of LD~50~. But given that the subject probably didn’t ingest 18l of fluid instantly, because then the story would include that in the title, the consumption was spread out. Elimination half-life for caffeine is 3-7hrs, meaning that the initial caffeine could be reduced to 1/8 by the end.
I don’t have the time to do the integral equations, but my best bet is that our subject plausibly could survive, but his kidneys, penis and psychiatric state could do with a check up.
LurkingLuddite@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
People regularly die on less than 2g caffeine intake in a day.
redlemace@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Nah … The info is not 100% conclusive but it’s a huge risk to say the least. Still, there is more that does not add up. 36 can’s equals 9 Liters (304 US ounce) of red bull … Try washing down 9 Liters of a super sugary (lightly-) carbonated drink.
stormeuh@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The sugar could kill you in the long term, but I think here it’s the caffeine you should worry about.
BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
And claiming that the story is fake because “36 red bulls would literally kill a horse” is just plain old hyperbole.
While I’m not big on equine nephrology, or veteranary physiology in general even, I suppose that it’s reasonable to assume, that not 100% of horses would survive ingesting the caffeine equivalent of 14l of coffee at once. But going from “some horses would die from this” to “this story is definitely fake” is just bad reasoning.
Sure, it’s reasonable to question the story, but dismissing it because a horse couldn’t do the same? WTF?
Not every horse, human, or humpback whale would survive consuming 36 red bulls. But it’s not unreasonable to assume that a majority of humans would survive.
Personally I want to believe the story, if for nothing else than it’s not a story about how the world is going to shit.
python@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Horses die from the dumbest shit tho
Texas_Hangover@lemmy.radio 2 weeks ago
Lol, can’t their stomach’s like literally flip upside down and fuck everything up?
percent@infosec.pub 2 weeks ago
I don’t know about horses, but this can happen to dogs. The condition is called GDV. It happens without warning, and the only options are emergency surgery (gastropexy) or euthanasia.
PSA: A gastropexy is MUCH cheaper when done preventatively vs. on an emergency basis. If you get a puppy that is a deep-chested breed, get a gastropexy when spaying/neutering.
The emergency surgery for my senior retriever mix was $6k+ and a rough (for both of us tbh) recovery. I’ve known others who have lost their beloved dogs to GDV. It sucks