While most students ingest copious amounts of caffeine throughout college, two undergrads in England took things a little too far. OK, a lot too far. It wasn't their fault though!
According to the BBC, the students at Northumbria University had volunteered for an medical trial to test the effects of caffeine of exercise. A miscalculation on a cellphone used by the doctors conducting the trial led to each student receiving 30g of caffeine, equivalent to 300 cups of coffee in one shot. That's 100 times the intended dosage of 0.3g, and way above what is considered the "fatal" caffeine limit, 18g.
The subjects were hospitalized where they received dialysis and each lost 20lbs. No, that does not count as a silver lining. Both have since just about recovered fully, though one still reports suffering from short-term memory loss.
In a recent court ruling, the university was fined over $500,000 for health and safety breaches, as well as costs and victim surcharges. The prosecutor had argued that the experiment was not conducted safely, which seems like a given, noting that "the staff were not experienced or competent enough and they had never done it on their own before."
Of course, if the thought of ingesting caffeine is now slightly scary, check out Cosmopolitan.com's guide to moderating your intake.
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