A fitness and caffeine enthusiast died at the age of 28 from a heart attack — her devastated mother believes energy drinks are to blame.
Florida teacher Katie Donnell was committed to a healthy lifestyle — even as she often drank three energy drinks a day and took a caffeine supplement before hitting the gym.
“At 28, you just don’t see people dropping dead of a heart attack,” her mother, Lori Barranon, recently told Kennedy News & Media.
“She was a workout queen, she ate real clean, she ate organic food, she was the epitome of health other than [having energy drinks].”
Barranon, 63, claimed her daughter did not have health issues apart from really bad anxiety.
“She had horrible anxiety and went to several doctors,” she said. “I don’t think it was real anxiety, I think it was her abuse of caffeine and energy drinks.”
Donnell was spending time with friends in August 2021 when she suddenly fell to the ground as her eyes rolled to the back of her head.
Her pals initially mistook the episode as a stroke.
They called an ambulance — but it was too late.
“She was without oxygen for too long and it caused brain damage,” Barranon said. “They worked on her for three hours, and she never woke up.”
After 10 days in a medically induced coma, her seizures worsened.
Her family had to make the heartbreaking decision to take her off life support.
“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,” Barranon said.
“I know for a fact that was what was wrong with her.”
It’s unclear the brand or type of energy drinks Donnell consumed.
While moderate caffeine intake can enhance alertness and physical performance, it can also raise blood pressure, spike heart rate and exacerbate anxiety — none of which is good for heart health.
While rare, others have died of caffeine overdoses.
In 2018, 21-year-old Australian musician Lachlan Foote died of caffeine toxicity after adding a teaspoon of caffeine powder to a protein shake.
While she ultimately survived, 20-year-old Jazmin Garza was left on life support last year after having just a few sips of her energy drink before a workout.
Recent research reports that consuming over 400 milligrams of caffeine a day can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease in otherwise healthy people.
“For most adults, up to 400 mg of caffeine per day is considered safe,” nutritionist Nichola Ludlam-Raine previously told The Post.
For reference, this translates to:
- Four small cups of brewed coffee (around 90–100 mg each)
- Five to six shots of espresso (about 65–80 mg each)
- Two to four larger coffee shop-style drinks
Most energy drinks in the US contain 100 to 300 mg of caffeine — although some brands boast more.
Barranon said her daughter “was drinking a lot of coffee” and “would buy a four-pack [of drinks] every two to three days.”
Now, the distraught mother is sounding the alarm in the hopes that other families can avoid similar tragedy.
“If you don’t keep your kids away from this stuff you may be in my situation where your life is ruined. It’s so harmful and deadly, my whole family is affected by this,” Barranon said.
“I beg people to counsel your kids and watch what they’re doing, I thought I was. I tell everybody I see with energy drinks that this is what it can do in the blink of an eye.”
