Is Logan Paul Trying to Kill Us?

Logan Paul's Prime Energy drink has an extraordinary amount of caffeine in it.

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cans of prime
Photo: ZikG (Shutterstock)

I first learned of Prime Energy drink from a commercial that aired during the Super Bowl this year. It’s a beverage founded and backed by YouTube celebrity Logan Paul (known for spectacularly dumb video stunts), and though it looks like any other energy drink, there’s one aspect that is giving health experts cause for concern.

The problem with Logan Paul’s Prime drinks

Prime comes in two varieties: Hydration and Energy. The beverage in question is the Energy version. Energy drinks of all stripes (and all celebrity endorsements) are notorious for having a metric crapton of caffeine in them, though most have a manageable amount, roughly equivalent to a cup of coffee.

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Take, for example, Red Bull. A standard 8.4-oz can contains 80 mg of caffeine. Monster Energy usually contains around 160 mg of the stimulant per 16-oz. can. But Prime’s 12-oz. serving packs a whopping 200 mg of caffeine, which is a lot. I used to slam a Monster if I was particularly tired before a restaurant service, which would certainly do the trick, but I’d be a little too amped for the first few hours sometimes.

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ABC News reports that this amount of caffeine is concerning, especially because Paul’s audience skews young. ABC News medical contributor Dr. Alok Patel says that this quantity “is a huge amount of caffeine.”

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Patel told Good Morning America that this quantity “is too much for any growing child.”

That much caffeine can cause some adverse effects, such as disrupted sleep, mood disorders, upset stomach, even abnormal heart rhythms,” Patel said.

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Granted, there is a warning on every can about the energy drink not being recommended for children under 18 years old, but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t recommend that for anybody in one sitting. (Perhaps Nick Jonas might disagree—his go-to drink is apparently a quad-espresso iced Americano, which contains slightly north of 250 mg of caffeine.) The maximum recommended intake of caffeine per day is 400 mg, so the Prime Energy drink is half of that in just 12 oz.

Prime Energy has not yet responded to a request for comment on its product’s caffeine levels. If you are about to dive into a can of Prime Energy, do yourself a favor and maybe just sip it slow and save half for later. Or better yet, find a different source of caffeine altogether, one that might not make your stomach churn and your heart race.