Grieving dad shares warning after his young son suddenly died from a caffeine overdose after drinking a protein shake.

Lachlan Foote was one day shy of his 22nd birthday when his parents found him dead on the bathroom floor of his family’s home in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney on New Year’s Day in 2018.

Taking to Facebook on Sunday, Lachlan’s father Nigel Foote spoke candidly about his son’s death in the hope it might possibly ‘save someone else’s life’.

A coroner’s report last week concluded Lachlan died of unknowingly ingesting a lethal amount of caffeine, Mr Foote wrote.

The 21-year-old inadvertently overloaded a protein shake with too much pure caffeine – a teaspoon of which can be equivalent of up to 50 cups of coffee.

In a chilling final message posted to a Facebook group on the night he died, the usually healthy 21-year-old revealed his bedtime protein shake had tasted bitter.

‘I think my protein powder has gone off. Just made an anti hangover / workout shake and it tasted awful,’ Lachlan wrote at 2.07am.

‘Anyway … night lads. Cya in the morning.’

Within a few hours, Lachlan was found dead.

His family now want to share their story as a warning to others, with his father claiming it only takes one teaspoon of the powder to create lethal consequences.

‘It’s very likely that Lachlan never got to read the warning label on the packet and was unaware of its potency,’ he wrote on Facebook.

“We think Lachlan obtained the caffeine powder from a friend or work associate as a thorough search of his computer and bank statements, by both myself and the police, revealed no mention of caffeine powder, only related protein powder products.”

The dad added, “It’s scandalous that this product has not been banned in Australia (as it has in America) and we feel that the NSW Food Authority, and Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) are failing in their duty to protect consumers.”

“It’s just insane that something so dangerous is so readily available. Please warn your friends, talk to your children… and perhaps check your kitchen cupboards…pure caffeine powder looks just like any other white powder… but a heaped teaspoon of it will kill you.”

Mr Foote stated blood results also revealed Lachlan had no illicit substances in his system and he’d likely only had acouple of drinks, given his blood alcohol level was below 0.05.

Our thoughts are with Lachlan’s family. Such a tragedy.

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