A pathologist said Natasha Harris's Coca-Cola habit probably contributed to her death in 2010. Photograph: AP
Posted on 04/20/2012 8:28:36 AM PDT by null and void
A pathologist said Natasha Harris's Coca-Cola habit probably contributed to her death in 2010. Photograph: AP
Natasha Harris, 30, of Invercargill, died from a heart attack in February 2010.
Dr Dan Mornin testified at an inquest on Thursday that Harris probably suffered from hypokalemia, or low potassium, which he thinks was caused by her excessive consumption of Coke and overall poor nutrition.
Mornin said toxic levels of caffeine, a stimulant found in cola, also may have contributed to her death.
Harris's partner, Chris Hodgkinson, testified that Harris drank between 8 and 10 litres of Coke every day. "She was addicted to Coke."
Hodgkinson said she ate little and smoked about 30 cigarettes a day. In the months before her death, he said, Harris had 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.
Lisa te Morenga, a nutritionist at the University of Otago, told the Associated Press that excessive consumption of any type of liquid in a cool climate would be likely to play havoc with the body's natural systems and balances.
Karen Thompson, a spokeswoman for Coca-Cola Oceania, said in a statement that its products were 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."
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
No doubt.
I suspect it caused her to be diabetic too.
The body does not generate enough thirst to justify 8-10 liters of fluid being consumed per day.
That sounds like diabetic thirst to me, which is unquenchable.
Bad lifestyles kill, too!
Odds are that consumption of only one thing to the exclusion of everything else, no matter what it is, is bad for your health.
outlaw assault drinks!/s
Reminds me of the radio contest in which a young woman drank a huge amount of water, resulting in her death.Water kills.
Law suit against Coca Cola, Inc. pending?
“Hodgkinson said she ate little and smoked about 30 cigarettes a day.”
Excessive fluids of nearly any with poor nutrition will rob the body of nutrients... This woman it appears led a very unhealthy lifestyle overall, but we can’t get an attention grabbing headline with “woman took piss poor care of herself and died young” nope, we have to blame it on some product of a multinational company.
Ya think?
I have diabetes and I have to force myself to drink enough water. If blood sugar is kept in a desirable range (through diet, exercise, and/or insulin and meds), excessive thirst is not a problem. At least that's my experience. The subject of this thread undoubtedly had high blood sugar.
Had an uncle who was addicted to Coca-Cola.
With eight hours sleep - that’s at least one glass every 30 minutes.
I’m just surprised that her bladder didn’t give out before her heart did.
Even more so if you are swilling down sugar water!
“we have to blame it on some product of a multinational company.”
Yep, there is no money in it otherwise. Plus we gotta make sure Bloomberg knows about this so he can outlaw the sale of Coke in NYC.
Oh yeah, I am a diabetic too. I believed I caused it by drinking a 2 litre of Coke/ Pepsi per day for many years.
When my blood sugar was out of control, before I officially knew I was a diabetic, I drank 2 litres of soda per day + a gallon of milk every single day, and I was still thirsty.
ALl that ended with me in the hospital for 5 days with hyperglycemia. Almost died from naseua of all things. Heart attack came six months after that.
Fun stuff.
Now I have my diabetes on maximum security lock down, blood sugar is perfect every day, heart is in tip top shape, and I am in good physical shape myself.
Hopefully those troubles are behind me forever, and I also wish you much luck and skill in managing yours.
Yep, doing so will only compound the thrist.
Sue Coke. But then, in Mexico the average consumption of Coke is 238 12oz drinks per person per year.
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