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Niles West News

The Student News Site of Niles West High School

Niles West News

The Student News Site of Niles West High School

Niles West News

Opinion: Don’t “Charge Up” on Panera’s Charged Lemonade

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Whether you’re picking up food for dinner, or stopping for coffee with a friend, Panera is a go-to place for many, including myself. One day, I decided to try a different lemonade to spice up my meal. Little did I know that minutes after drinking it, my entire body would be shaking.

Panera is currently being sued due to the fact that a young woman died because of their new “charged” lemonades. When I first drank one of these, I felt like I was dying too. After receiving my meal, I went to fill up my regular-sized cup with the Fuji Apple Cranberry charged lemonade. I usually drink the Agave classic lemonade, but wanted to try something new. Immediately after finishing the drink with my food, my heart was racing and my body started shaking uncontrollably. In complete confusion, I did not know what was causing this to happen to me.

I later came to find out that this new reaction was occurring because instead of getting the classic agave lemonade, I drank the large Fuji Apple Cranberry charged lemonade that contains 390 milligrams of caffeine. The regular sizes are usually around 260 milligrams. To put this in perspective, a regular cup of coffee only contains about 90 milligrams of caffeine. No wonder I couldn’t stop shaking. That’s when I realized caffeine and I do not mix.

Caffeine is already bad for you, and this amount of caffeine in one drink is insane. Not to mention, when I got this drink, there was no label stating that there was this much caffeine in the drink, or at least not a big enough label. When I went into Panera more recently, I saw that they made a bigger label stating that there is caffeine in the drinks. As they should.

Some people need caffeine for an energy boost, however, this charged lemonade is too much of a boost and surpasses the amount of caffeine in a 12-ounce can of Red Bull and a 16-ounce can of Monster combined. This excessive amount of caffeine is not safe to drink, especially for kids and teenagers.

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