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.

  • blazera@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    It was a bizarre thing. Energy drinks are at least marketed as having extreme amounts of caffeine, but this has more, is sold at a bread store, and the caffeine is intentionally downplayed.

    • psmgx@lemmy.world
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      5 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.

      • BakerBagel@midwest.social
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        5 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.