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New Zealand Herald via AP
Natasha Harris, stay-at-home mother of eight, died of a heart attack in February 2010. Experts say the New Zealand woman's two-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.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- 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 2010. 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."
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DDRNJ
I agree, this was a death brought to you by the terminally stupid. 8 kids by age 30? She has already enhanced the gene pool 8 times over and there was no life guard on duty.
She had a severe sugar addiction.
I've never lived an addictive life style so I just don't get it.
If you have eight kids you'd think a mother would take care of herself to be around for those kids. She couldn't have been that stupid to think drinking that much coke and smoking that much every day wouldn't put her in an early grave. I hope those kids have someone to take care of them.
Be gratful that you never had an addiction. It's a pretty ugly thing.
These people can't help it, just as your brain has all the right signals fireing, the addicted brain just doesn't work the same. Right and wrong just doesn't exist to some of these people. The only right in there lives is feeding the addicition.
8 Kids!!!! Someone should've taught her the concept of contraceptives!!!!!
If I'm going to kill myself by over-indulging, it wouldn't be Coke. Chocolate would be my choice.
And i am sure between the smokes and coke she never added any whiskey or vodka to water it down!! I can tell you that i drink a gallon of coke a day and not annorexic and yes occasionally like a little vodka with my coke but i do not smoke and i am in perfect health. At least for my age and thats 20 years on this woman!
She obviously died of stupidity.......
I feel bad for the kids.......
I agree with Coke. Ask any person who has any kind of background in nutrition and they will tell you that 2 gallons a day of ANYTHING is so very bad for a person.
Even if it was diet Coke, it is the strain it put on her body with excess liquid. The body simple can not handle that much liquid.
If she was drinking that much liquid was she tested for diabetes? With 8 kids the work load had to be extreme and if one is working that hard and taking in 2 gallons a day, she had something else going on.
I think they meant 2 liters a day not gallons.
3.78541178 liters=1 US gallon X 2= 7.58 liters a day. So that would be 2 (3) liters bottles a day with (1)1.5 liter bottle.
hyponatremia after you drink 3 litres of water, 6 litres will kill you. So I don't think that 2 gallons is right, even though coke is not just water the human kidney can only handle so much. 7.58 a day you would never be able to drink, do to at about 6 liters of water or coke you would be dead.
I'm 62,I love coke,I drink one a month,run 40 miles a wk,don't smoke and eat alot of great food.This woman had some kind of mental issue.
It wasn't any of those things that killed her. It was her own choices that she and she ALONE chose that killed her. Sorry. No sympathy from me for people who willingly make bad choices. If she had a disorder then she or someone close to her should have gotten her help. Help of any kind is better than just sitting back and doing nothing. Maybe she should have done something...if not for herself but for her EIGHT kids. Now because of her choices...who gets to finish raising and paying for all those kids?? Grow up and take responsibility for your own actions people.
I think people should know that excessive caffeine can possibly give you a heart attack. A guy I worked with had one even though he took care of himself, except he drank a lot of Dr. Pepper. All these caffeine drinks being sold to teenagers is not a good thing. An acquaintance I know died of stomach cancer and she drank a lot of Coke. The drums of undiluted Coke are marked "caustic". But the Coke spokesperson will deny that Coke is bad for you.
I cite this quote if I could remember who said it - "Sugar is a cheap, addictive drug for children".
Adults too apparently.
Did you know the physiological effects of caffeine are identical to cocaine, just not as intense? So why is cocaine illegal? So why isn't caffeine illegal? If you think drug use if for fools, you might want to check what your eating & drinking.
I like the picture they show of her, you can't tell if she was a big fatso with other health problems brewing, I'm sure this is the same type of photo that would have been posted on a dating site. Looks good until you get there----then oooooop there it is!!!!! Anyway sad for the kids, and Coca Cola is stiil the best, especially if it comes from Mexico or Central America, Real Cane Sugar Sugar
If I spent 6 years pregnant I'd be drinking a whole lot more than coke!
But back to reality, she left 8 kids! Eight children who after living in a household full of second hand smoke are already off to a really bad start. My heart does go out to the kids.
Anything in excess will kill you, but caffeine is highly addictive and in this case it was an overdose..Funny how the legal department at Coke rushes to damage control mode in saying"even water can be deadly in excessive amounts." This will prompt just one more warning label on everything we consume..Pretty soon the brand name will be in the fine print overshadowed by warnings and nutritional factoids..
They make a fair point though. It was the excessive liquid intake that diluted the nutrients in her body. In this case the potassium. An excess of water would do the same. If she had been drinking gallons of something like gatorade it might not have happened. I'm sure the toxic levels of caffeine and pack and a half habit weakened her heart and threw her BP all out of whack and were contributing factors but it sounds like flushing all the potassium out of her body is what actually killed her. Of course you could argue it was her mental state that killed her.
This woman was obviously a complete idiot without any regard for her health, she got exactly what she deserved. In what universe do you have to sit a 30 year old woman down and explain to her that 2 gallons of Coke and 30 cigarettes a day is going to kill you?? Good riddance? why is this even a story worthy of being on the news? come on MSNBC you can do better than that
Not necessarily D. Intelligence is no defense against brainwashing. It could be she was told sugar tastes "good" so many times, she believed it.
How about you? Do you think sugar tastes "good"? Or just sweet?
She had 8 kids by the age of 30, I am surprise she wasn't drinking something stronger than Coke. I agree she had an eating disorder, she was starving herself.
even if it didnt kill her...it sure couldnt have been helping her
They must have some big income that she is a stay at home mom and can afford 7 kids and a 2 gal, 30 cig a day habit. Unless it is really cheap to live in New Zealand.
No she just has a great husband that can support her big lazy ass
Maybe if she bought rubbers she wouldn't have needed all of that soda for energy. 8 kids at 30 years old and smoked a pack and a half a day...just selfish. I'd hate to see what those teeth looked like...meth mouth?