Man Dies After Consuming 8 Cans Of Energy Drink To Win N1,600 Bet

A Nigerian has died after consuming eight cans of Bullet ‘energy drink’. To boot, he lost a bet with a friend.

The man was identified by the Nigerian police in the eastern state of Ebonyi as Elijah Nwankwo.

He lived in the Ikwo council area of Ebonyi state.

Mr Ebere Amarizu, the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Police in Enugu State said Nwankwo on Thursday agreed to drink eight cans of energy drink for N1,600(less than $100) to be paid by one Chikwado Nchionu, the challenger.


“After taking the energy drink, he became weak and went into coma. He was immediately rushed to a hospital in Enugu where he was confirmed dead by a doctor.

“The body of the deceased has been deposited at the hospital’s mortuary’’, Amarizu said.

Unknown to many drinkers, energy drinks contain excessive caffeine and sugar, which are hazardous to health.

On June 14, this year, a 16 year old boy, Lanna Hamann died of cardiac arrest after a day of sipping energy drinks on the beach in Rocky Point, Mexico.

“Energy drinks can be risky. It is important that you understand what is actually in these products because their labels typically don’t tell you. Energy drinks are cited as a possible cause of thousands of emergency room visits each year, and there are reports of at least 11 deaths among people who drank 5-Hour Energy – although we don’t know more about the cases. And five deaths have been associated with the use of Monster energy drinks,” Huffingtonpost.com reported a few months ago.
In a post as far back as 18 December, 2012, Dr Tod Cooperman, MD President, ConsumerLab.com ConsumerLab.com gave the insight below on the dangers of energy drinks:

“Although known as “energy drinks,” many of these products don’t provide any real energy, as you would get from carbohydrates, for example. Instead they provide a stimulant – caffeine. Labels typically don’t tell you exactly how much caffeine is in a product. At ConsumerLab.com, we recently tested caffeine levels in three popular energy drinks.

We found that a 5-ounce bottle of Monster Energy M-3 Super Concentrate contained 206 mg of caffeine and 5-Hour Energy contained about the same amount but in just 2 ounces, meaning that 5-Hour Energy is even more concentrated than Monster. In comparison, a full 8-ounce cup of regular brewed coffee has just 95 milligrams of caffeine. Ounce-for-ounce, the caffeine in 5-Hour Energy is 9 times as concentrated as in coffee.

“Over the course of a full day, these amounts, and even up to 300 mg of caffeine can be fine. You’d be drinking about 3 cups of coffee, sipping here and there, so you’re getting a gradual rise in caffeine as well as eliminating some of it. The problem with the shot is that you are getting over two-thirds of that daily amount all at once, which can be a jolt to the system. And since it’s such a small amount of liquid, you may be inclined to drink more than one bottle. Drink two little bottles and you’ve just downed 415 mg of caffeine