Doctors struggled to diagnose a mystery illness when a woman was admitted to the emergency room.
The 22-year-old initially showed symptoms of liver failure and medics believed she was suffering from acute hepatitis.
However, it was on her second emergency trip to hospital that she finally admitted to a ten-a-day caffeine drink habit that stretched back for weeks.
The woman told doctors that she had been drinking energy boost drink 5-Hour Energy repeatedly throughout the day.
If the makers claims are to be believed she had 50 hours of energy to use up in a 24-hour day.
Literature for the high caffeine shots say the drink should only be taken twice a day and with a lengthy gap between drinks.
When the woman first stumbled vomiting into hospital she had symptoms including upper abdominal pain, nausea and fever doctors in the States struggled to diagnose what was wrong with her and sent her home.
But it was on a second visit tinged yellow and even more ill that medics thought her liver was failing and diagnosed her with hepatitis.
After tests for viral infections, alcohol and drug misuse proved clear doctors discussed with her what she had been eating and drinking in the previous two weeks.
When she told them she had been downing ten bottles of the caffeine boost drink every day for previous two weeks, the mystery was solved.
After further tests doctors believe the woman, who has not been named, overdosed on niacin, more commonly called vitamin B3, which can damage the liver if taken in large amounts.
She was successfully treated and discharged as her system returned to normal and the symptoms disappeared.
TODAY Show regular and nutritionist author Joy Bauer said: ‘Energy drinks are propped up by all sorts of sexy marketing, but they’re not as magical as the ads would have you think.
‘The ‘lift’ they give you comes from caffeine – nothing fancy there. The high doses of B vitamins and amino acids they dump in are purely for glitz and glam – they don’t actually help you instantly perk up.
‘Energy shots offer a very concentrated dose of caffeine, which makes it difficult to stop when you feel like you’ve had too much, unlike if you’re slowly sipping a cup of coffee.’
But even coffee has its limits in terms of human consumption, according to the website energyfiend.com – which offers a macabre calculator to reveal the fatal dose of nearly any caffeinated beverage, based on body weight.
According to the site a 130-pound person, for example, would ‘be pushing up daises’ after guzzling 151.67 cans of Pepsi’s Mountain Dew drink.
And for a 200-pound person, the site warns, ‘Gulp down 143.68 cups of Starbucks Tall Cafe Mocha and you’re history.’
Caffeine exists naturally in certain plants but it can also be produced synthetically and used as an additive in food products.
It is a central nervous system stimulant and a diuretic, which means it increases urination.
How stupid can u get? Smh