Screenshot/TikTok - sigma_mino
A 20-year-old ingested nearly 800 mg of caffeine — a dosage double the daily amount considered safe by the FDA —for a TikTok video last month. Mino Lee documented dramatic mood swings and pains as a result, calling it "the worst day" of his life.
A registered dietician told Insider she highly suggests no one repeats this stunt.
In the clip, which has been viewed over 1.1 million times, Lee, a student at Boston College, filmed himself taking the caffeine in powder form on September 14 — and documented the aftermath, or what he called "the 5 stages of caffeine overdose," throughout that day.
Lee told Insider he took two large scoops of his friend's pre-workout supplement, which added up to 790 mg, at about 9 or 10 in the morning.
He said he decided to down so much caffeine because he "knew the video idea would be entertaining."
"Have you ever wondered what would happen if you overdosed on caffeine?" he said cheerily at the start of the video, "Well, me too!"
In the clip, Lee said he first felt energized and euphoric, attaching a clip of himself working out. Then, he cut to shots of himself in class, looking extremely agonized, and eventually showed a clip of himself about to puke in a toilet.
After he vomited, he said he felt "post-puke euphoria," which eventually gave way to "spontaneous sadness" later in the day.
"I expected the experience to be very fun since I usually react with creativity and energy to caffeine," Lee told Insider. "But for some reason, later that day, I had an extreme mood swing." He compared it to a depressive episode.
Lee said the caffeine's effects were so intense that they lasted until he went to bed, and he even felt a bit of jumpiness the following day despite not consuming any more caffeine. Lee said he's usually very sensitive to caffeine and typically consumes the stimulant every few days.
Sammi Brondo, a registered dietician from New York, told Insider she "highly" recommends against doing what Lee did.
"You can see in the video how he shifted between different extreme states, many of them negative," Brondo said. "While caffeine can have positive effects, it's best to consume gradually and not exceed 400mg per day."
Brondo said that having more than the recommended dose can inflict side effects like insomnia, anxiety jitters, and stomach or head problems. According to the FDA, rapidly consuming around 1,200 mg of caffeine can cause "toxic effects" like seizures.
Lee said he initially didn't think twice about his TikTok stunt since he thought it would be fun, but he quickly grew worried after taking it and realizing it was beyond a healthy dosage.
The comments on Lee's video are full of people commiserating with him and sharing their own stories of caffeine overdose. One viewer said they couldn't sleep for three days after downing 800 mg of caffeine, while another person said they had the worst panic attack and nausea of their life after driving all night on 600 mg of caffeine.
"I did this once by accident," a commenter wrote. "Never again."
