A family is suing Red Bull for $85million following the death of a father-of-one who died from a heart attack after downing the soft drink.
Cory Terry, 33, from Brooklyn, consumed the caffeine-based drink after playing basketball at Stephen Decatur Middle School in Brooklyn on November 8, 2011.
Records show Mr Terry, who was father to a 13-year-old boy, drank the can 45 minutes after playing the sport. He then collapsed and died.
His cause of death was idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy which meant his heart stopped.
Mr Terry’s relatives are blaming the company which makes the energy boosting beverage for his death.
His grandmother Patricia Terry said her grandson drank Red Bull all the time.
The complaint is believed to be the first of its kind against the company which makes energy drinks.
Lawyer Ilya Novofastovsky told the New York Daily News that there are ‘extra stimulants that make it different than a cup of coffee’ which are ‘more dangerous than Red Bull lets on’.
Red Bull said it did not comment on individual cases but that health authorities across the world have said it is safe to drink.
His mother has said that Mr Terry, a construction worker from Bedford-Stuyvesant, drank Red Bull all the time.
Novofastovsky said he hoped the lawsuit would raise people’s awareness about the potential risks of energy drinks.
In 2008 scientists said just one can of Red Bull could raise the risk of heart attack or a stroke.
The study on university students found that drinking one 250ml can of even the sugar-free version, which has the slogan ‘gives you wings’, increased the ‘stickiness of the blood and raised the risk of life-threatening clots.
Researcher Dr Scott Willoughby said: ‘One hour after they drank Red Bull, (their blood systems) were no longer normal.
Dr Willoughby, of the Cardiovascular Research Centre at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, said he was ‘alarmed’ at the results and would not drink Red Bull himself.
Those with underlying heart or circulatory problems should think twice before buying the caffeine-loaded drink, he said.
Formulated by the marketing director of an Austrian toothpaste company in the 1980s, one can contains 80 mg of caffeine, around the same as a cup of filter coffee, or two cups of instant.
However, cans do carry health warnings advising people not to drink more than two a day.
source: dailymail UK
Tags: Redbull
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