Man died after drinking equivalent of hundreds of cups of coffee in caffeine powder

A personal trainer died after drinking the equivalent of hundreds of cups of coffee in caffeine powder.

Thomas Anthony Mansfield died on January 5, 2021, after miscalculating the amount of caffeine in his pre-workout drink using kitchen scales.

Mr Mansfield, who worked as a security guard and a personal trainer, had ordered a packet of caffeine powder from Blackburn Distributions, a UK-based sport supplement company.

The packet arrived at the 29-year-old's home in Colwyn Bay on the morning of January 5, and he went on to consume the drink shortly afterwards, an inquest heard.

The recommended serving for the caffeine powder, as stated on the packaging at the time, is between 60-300mg twice a day.

However, the digital scale used by Mr Mansfield to measure the powder had a starting weight of 2g - which was several times the maximum amount of a single serving of the caffeine powder.

John Gittins, senior coroner for North Wales east and central, heard Mr Mansfield was "likely aiming for a mid range serving" when attempting to measure the powder but instead consumed too much of the supplement.

In a statement, Mr Mansfield's wife, Suzannah, said her late husband was "really healthy" and would normally drink no more than two cups of coffee a day.

She said her husband "necked the remainder of the drink" after taking a sip and began "clutching his chest" shortly afterwards before lying down on the sofa.

Moments later, she saw him frothing at the mouth and ran to seek help from her neighbours and family members who lived nearby.

An ambulance arrived within minutes and the crew used a defibrillator due to Mr Mansfield's "grossly abnormal" heart rhythm as he had gone into cardiac arrest.

He was then taken to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd where resuscitation attempts were eventually stopped at 4pm.

Following a post-mortem examination, a medical cause of death of caffeine toxicity was given.

Mr Mansfield was found to have 392mg of caffeine per litre of blood, the coroner heard.

Caffeine toxicity can be caused by levels at 78mg per litre of blood or higher.

In his conclusion, Mr Gittins recorded Mr Mansfield's death as misadventure due to the unintended result of his own actions in consuming the caffeine powder.

Mr Gittins added that he has since been "massively reassured" that action has been taken to help prevent similar cases from occurring in the future with this brand of caffeine powder due to the provision of a scoop and an A4 instruction sheet in all new packets.

Had these scoops been provided at the time, Mr Mansfield would likely still be alive today, the coroner said in his conclusion.

The instructions and warnings on the caffeine powder packet was not in breach of regulations at the time, the coroner heard.