We know soda is addicting, but it can kill too?!! DAMN! Experts are pointing their fingers to a 30-year-old woman’s 2-gallon-a-day Coca-Cola habit as the contributing factor to her fatal heart attack. Experts say a New Zealand woman’s 2-gallon-a-day Coca-Cola habit probably contributed to her death, a conclusion that led the soft-drink giant to note that even water can be deadly in excessive amounts. Natasha Harris, a 30-year-old, stay-at-home mother of eight from Invercargill, died of a heart attack in February. Fairfax Media reported that a pathologist, Dr. Dan Mornin, testified at an inquest Thursday that she probably suffered from hypokalemia, or low potassium, which he thinks was caused by her excessive consumption of Coke and overall poor nutrition. Symptoms of hypokalemia can include abnormal heart rhythms, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Mornin said that toxic levels of caffeine, a stimulant found in Coke, also may have contributed to her death, according to Fairfax. Harris’ partner, Chris Hodgkinson, testified that Harris drank between 8 and 10 liters (2.1 and 2.6 gallons) of regular Coke every day. “The first thing she would do in the morning was to have a drink of Coke beside her bed and the last thing she would do at night was have a drink of Coke,” Hodgkinson said in a deposition. “She was addicted to Coke.” Hodgkinson also said Harris ate little and smoked about 30 cigarettes a day. In the months before her death, he said, Harris experienced blood pressure problems and lacked energy. He said that on the morning of her death, Harris helped get her children ready for school before slumping against a wall. He called emergency services and tried mouth-to-mouth resuscitation but couldn’t revive her. Another pathologist, Dr. Martin Sage, said in a deposition that “it is certainly well demonstrated that excessive long or short term cola ingestion can be dramatically symptomatic, and there are strong hypothetical grounds for this becoming fatal in individual cases.” Inquests such as this are sometimes held for unusual or unexplained deaths in New Zealand, and can help shape future health policies. With the evidence in the case now complete, the coroner’s office will compile and issue a final report into the death. In an interview with The Associated Press, Lisa Te Morenga, a nutritionist at the University of Otago, said excessive consumption of any type of liquid in a cool climate would be likely to play havoc with the body’s natural systems and balance. Karen Thompson, a spokeswoman for Coca-Cola Oceania, said in a statement that its products are safe. “We concur with the information shared by the coroner’s office that the grossly excessive ingestion of any food product, including water, over a short period of time with the inadequate consumption of essential nutrients, and the failure to seek appropriate medical intervention when needed, can be dramatically symptomatic.”
2 gallons a day of any caffeinated drink will kill you, that is just stupid in the first place. plus she had other junk going on like not eating and smoking like a chimmney
I only hope new zealand passes a law that it cannot be sold in anything more than 16 oz at a time. Soon you'll have to sign for it like you do pseudophederine at a drug store.
Would that have saved this girl? No! She was addicted, over 2 gallons of coke a day is crazy! Poor nutrition, smoking, and probably near toxic levels of caffeine stopped this girls heart from beating.
I completely agree Jeff, I was just being facetious. To blame only coke doesn't do the situation any justice at all.
You can't blame the manufacturer. They only sell it. The idiots who abuse the product are to blame. Like my Mom said "Too much of a good thing is bad."
Caffeine should be used sparingly. Tobacco not at all. A lot of people are addicted to both. Addiction is never good.
We blame the manufacturers of coccaine, marijuana, and heroin. There is no reason not to blame the manufacturers of tobacco as well. Caffeine if used sparingly has benefits, like keeping you awake at the wheel on a long highway trip.
I drink Diet Coke so I should make it to the rip old age of 60. Maybe longer since I don't drink 2 gallons a day.
