Teenager Suffers From Chewing Gum Overdose

A teenager was suffering from a rapid heart beat, pins and needles in his legs and increased blood pressure when he was admitted to hospitatl suffering from a chewing gum overdose, last November, so says a report in The Lancet.
He stated that he had worked his way through two entire packs of chewing gum over a four hour period at school, consuming 320mg of caffeine, which is more than that in three cups of coffee.
Dr James Le Fanu stated that it took eight days for all the symptoms to disappear in the child, who prior to this incident had low levels of this stimulant in his diet .
The teenager was a patient of Dr Francesco Natale, from the Second University of Naples and Monaldi Hospital, who said, that for a boy of his size 320mg of caffeine is the same as an average adult drinking 10 cups of tea within four hours.
It is likely, he added, that the patient was highly caffeine sensitive.
He warned that children consuming such energy chewing gums can lead to caffeine intoxication.
There is a high risk of intoxication in teenagers and children as they are usually caffiene- naive and there is unrestricted sale of such substances.