Katie Donnell, a 28-year-old woman described by her mother as an “epitome of health,” died of a heart attack. Her devastated mother, Lori Barranon, believes a popular drink is to be blamed for her daughter’s tragic passing.
Namely, the tragedy struck back in 2021, while Katie was out with her friends. She was rushed to the hospital, where she had spent ten days on life support, before the family made a heartbreaking decision to let her go.
While Katie was “fitness mad,” she did consume a lot of energy drinks, which her mother believes is what led her to her heart attack.
“She would start with a pre-workout before she went to work to supposedly wake up or she went to the gym and did cardio at five in the morning.
“I didn’t realize how much she was drinking until after she passed. Her boyfriend said she would buy a four-pack every two to three days,” Lori explained.
“Not to mention she was drinking a lot of coffee and doing the pre-workout.
“One of her friends said she’d hardly see Katie without an energy drink in her hands. When I cleaned out her car after she passed it was full of cans, at least three or four in there.”
According to Healthline, consuming energy drinks can lead to cardiovascular issues, including high blood pressure and heart arrhythmias. If the consumption is excessive, it can also lead to heart attack.
However, besides Lori’s belief that the consumption of energy drinks was the cause of her daughter’s heart attack, doctors say that it is hard to determine a cause-and-effect relationship between the two.
The safe amount of caffeine intake per day is around 400 mg, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
“At 28, you just don’t see people dropping dead of a heart attack.
“She was a workout queen, she ate real clean, she ate organic food, she was the epitome of health other than [having energy drinks],” Lori said of her daughter.
“Doctors said they see this happen a lot with people that do a lot of pre-workout or energy drinks but they wouldn’t give the cause of death to that. I know for a fact that was what was wrong with her.
“I beg people to counsel your kids and watch what they’re doing, I think energy drinks should be banned.”