How Much Four Loko Would it Take to Kill You?

By Anthony Todd in Food on Dec 3, 2010 8:40PM

24 cans. That's how much original recipe Four Loko it would take to drop you in your tracks (in the death sense) according to a piece in Esquire magazine. In case anyone has forgotten, Four Loko is the caffeinated malt-liquor concoction that has the nation all a-tizzy, and a can contains as much caffeine as 4 shots of espresso. It's important to note that this particular calcuation is based on the caffeine content, not the alcohol. A fatal dose of caffeine is 5 grams, and after 24 cans of Four Loko, that is how much you would've ingested. The conclusion, of course, is that it's relatively hard to give yourself caffeine poisoning, and that it's possible that the hysteria over the drink has been overblown. Four Loko has announced that they are removing the caffeine from their recipe, but there are other similar products on the market, and it won't take long before people mix the new Four Loko with vodka.

We did some informal calculations, based on blood alcohol concentration, and it's almost a toss-up which would kill you first. The best guess we could make was that it would take about 20 cans to drop someone from alcohol poisoning. With a normal alcoholic beverage, the average drinker could be counted on to pass out long before that, but given that we are debating which will kill you first between a stimulant and a depressant, best of luck to you.

In case you are wondering, Esquire also found how much of other common substances it would take to kill you from a caffeine overdose. It would take 833 full size Kit Kat bars (sign us up!) or 108 cans of Coke Zero. The closest things to Four Loko are Dexatrim pills and Starbucks Grande Cafe Mochas, clocking in at 25 and 28 of each respectively for fatal doses - and Four Loko is still the winner.