How much caffeine or nicotine (in mg) is lethal to the human body?? I read somewhere......??

Question

i read somewhere that if you consume a certain amount of milograms of caffeine or nicotine, (i forget what it was) during the course of one day, you run the risk or throwing yourself into cardiac arrest or some kind of shock. (but i cant remember the article). it was close to a hundred mg maybe in caffeine?
(i dont remember) and somewhere close to 70mg of nicotine. is that right? i'm thinking those numbers are way off....
What's consided a normal ( i cant say healthy, as neither is healthy) amount that a person should/could consume to stay well under that limit? (besides none at all lol).....
i'm just curious..........
caffeine speeds up your heart so to speak.... does what does nicotine do? other than posion your body?

okay thank you!

I couldnt remember where i read it so i couldn't find the article again.

it made me nervous! Somedays i have an awful lot of caffine (nowhere near that total i don't think). I'd prefer to stay as far beneath the estimated lethal limit as possible........
it was an interesting article though! really makes you think about what you out into your body!! lol

thanks. these were all great. very helpful.

Answer 1

Caffeine

Adults and children age 12 years and over
100–200 mg no more than every 3–4 hours. In timed-release form, the dose is 200–250 mg once a day. Timed-release forms should not be taken less than six hours before bedtime.

Side effects

At recommended doses, caffeine can cause restlessness, irritability, nervousness, shakiness, headache, light-headedness, sleeplessness, nausea, vomiting, and upset stomach. At higher than recommended doses, caffeine can cause excitement, agitation, anxiety, confusion, a sensation of light flashing before the eyes, unusual sensitivity to touch, unusual sensitivity of other senses, ringing in the ears, frequent urination, muscle twitches or tremors, heart arrhythmias, rapid heartbeat, flushing, and convulsions.


Too much caffeine can cause anxiety, shaking, insomnia, and gastric and digestive disturbances. As dosage increases caffeine causes tachycardia (racing heartbeat), convulsions, coma, and death. Fatal dose is between 5 and 10 grams orally (14 Starbuck's 12 - ounce coffees at 375 mg caffeine each therefore constitute a potentially lethal dose of 5.625 grams caffeine), or 1 gram injected intracardially (directly into the heart à la Quentin Tarantino). Caffeine is physically addictive.


Precipitous reduction in or cessation of even low or moderate caffeine intake can, depending on individual susceptibility, result in withdrawal symptoms including anxiety, (sensation of) increased muscle tension, occasional tremor, weariness, weakness, fatigue, lethargy, apathy, drowsiness, headache including severe and/or debilitating headache, nausea, and vomiting.


Nicotine at 40- 60 mgm can be lethal. Nicotine aso accelerates the rate at which coffee is metabolized by the body.



What are the Effects of Nicotine?
Nicotine can do many things to the nervous system and not all of them are bad. Effects on the (+) side are things that are considered beneficial, while those on the (-) side are considered detrimental.


The positive effects are: anxiolysis (reduction of anxiety) ;cognitive enhancement, neuroprotection, analgesia; anti-psychotic vigilance; and cerebrovasodilation. The negative effects are GI distress, Hypertension, Hypothermia; Resp Distress and seizures.



This chart shows why several pharmaceutical companies (notably Abbott Labs, SIBIA, and Astra Arcus) are concentrating on nicotine research. You see, there are effects that people would like to replicate. So, the companies are working to design drugs which will mimic the good effects and avoid the bad ones.


One effect that is not listed on this chart is that nicotine can stimulate the division of SCLCs (small cell lung carcinomas), a cancer cell line, by several hundred percent. This fact is interesting because it may explain why certain types of lung cancer grow so rapidly in smoking patients.

Answer 2

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
How much caffeine or nicotine (in mg) is lethal to the human body?? I read somewhere......??
i read somewhere that if you consume a certain amount of milograms of caffeine or nicotine, (i forget what it was) during the course of one day, you run the risk or throwing yourself into cardiac arrest or some kind of shock. (but i cant remember the article). it was close to a hundred mg maybe in...

Answer 3

The LD50 (Lethal Dose 50% - i.e. the level at which half of an affected group will likely die) nicotine dose for an adult human being is around 60mg. Your numbers weren't way off, just a bit high. Nicotine kills by blocking certain chemical receptors in the brain which, in turn, disrupts control of certain autonomical nerve functions. Or, to put it another way, nicotine poisoning can cause you lose control of involuntary muscle functions like breathing.

On the plus side, the likelihood of getting a lethal dose of nicotine from using tobacco products isn't gonna happen - only a tiny amount of the nicotine contained in the tobacco makes it into your blood when you smoke. It's enough to bring you pleasure (and also get you addicted) but it ain't enough to kill you (the eventual cancer will do that) Some cases of nicotine poisoning apparently result when kids get into nicotine gum and chew up a bunch of the stuff. Others probably happen from inadvertantly ingesting a nicotine-based insecticide (it's apparently very effective in that role).

Answer 4

Nicotine Ld50

Answer 5

The lethal dose of caffeine is pretty high--40 grams, or the equivalent of 80 cups of coffee. To date, the weight of scientific evidence has established no causal link between coffee consumption and cardiovascular disease.

The lethal dose of pure nicotine is 40-60 mgs.

Answer 6

Around 5 grams of caffeine can kill you.