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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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Now we have to go to war with New Zealand. They'll blame corporate America for her death. If coke wasn't brought to them she'd still be alive. BRING IT ON NEW ZEALAND!
I'm sure the lawyers told the reporters, "just add a question mark" - absent of malice and the headline grabs everybody's attention.
And, it's actually partially true! It's like a win-win, except it's more like a wi-wi.
Of course her coke thing was bad for her - duh. Her death was also hastened by what she DIDN'T do, like exercise, eat a balanced nutritious diet, and drink a healthy amount of WATER!
This woman died because she was a worthless slave - she was either on her back or mouthing a butt and a pop top - boo frickin hoo. What an idiot.
Coke ought to send the family some coupons. They're great customers and with eight little slaves in training they could spell profits for years!!
I have heard it called by foreigners, " The Black Death" However, this women seems to have been neglecting herself in every possible way. It reminds me to moderate and take care of myself.
Addiction can come with anything not just drugs and alcohol.
Mothballs.
Very true and sadly...soem TV shows have showed us some peoples addictions are enough to make you sick even thinking about them.
Gailerina: Powder, gasoline, etc. Yeesh.
The show on TLC scares me and I do not watch it. Previews come on if I am watching the channel and freak me out.
There was one that caused me to almost throw up, but I rather not try to watch it. If I catch the commericial before it comes on, I hit mute and tun away from the TV....I don't want to know what else people are addicted to.
The nail polish addict floored me. I saw the mothball case, too. And the weirdest thing was, they had to have a doctor tell them it was bad for them. Like they blithely assumed their livers could process anything they could ingest, indifinately. "Gee, I didn't realize...."
I think the show, "1000 Ways to Die", is going to morph into "2000 Ways to Die" or "Another 1000 Ways to Die". There doesn't seem to be a lack of material. I recently saw the episode w/' Way to Die #1000' (no, I won't spoil it for you). Maybe that's supposted to be the final show in the series.
"Supposted"? Sorry, missed that one.
ARG it was the nail polish one that freaked me out...thanks...so glad I already had lunch. The commericials were horrible. I just imagine the smell and all and it freaks me out.
There was a mothball one? Are you serious? I should not be surprised, I saw the gasoline one and also the pillow cushion one. The glass eating has been done for ages....still freaks me out.
OO there was a dryer shet one and powered laundey detergent.
^^^^^^^^^^^^All those listed above are just wrong and in the show you learn a lot of it has to deal with some type of issue they are ignoring and so forth.
I'd say it's more than her consumption of Coke that caused her death. Sounds like she lived a very unhealthy life. Make better decisions people.
With that much Coke every day she probably died from her bladder falling out.
A better choice stop drinking soda period.
Having a glass every now and then it not bad.
Orly do you only drink spring water? Since everything else, even tap water, has stuff in it.
And even excessive amounts of spring/bottled water can kill you (I posted this link above):
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16614865/ns/us_news-life/t/woman-dies-after-water-drinking-contest/#.T5Fnr6sS0uc
True, I am the one that mentioned the woman dying.
My comment was to that person because they made it seem that only soda might be the only bad thing we drink and I was wondering if they only drink "pure" drinks like spring water.
CaptRon.
Eight kids? Her uterus probably fell out
Gailerina: Oops, that's right...didn't recognize the name. My bad.
I drink water that has been through a Reverse Osmosis Filter what kind of water you drink?
Then I boil it just to be extra sure most things in the water is killed.
Coca Cola, nor any other "soft drink" was ever kept in our home of 6 kids. Turns out, non of us had acne problems or obesity, or any medical issues other than childhood diseases. Mom had seen a "science project" while she was in school, using Coke. It was how quickly Coke could eat up a horseshoe nail! Didn't take that many days. And then I remember a woman cashier at the grocery store, who drank a case of warm 6oz Cokes every day. One day, she wasn't there anymore. Word was, the Coke killed her. Why not? She didn't smoke nor did she have 8 kids.
She would probably be alive if she was snorting coke....
I drink alot, it is an addiction. There is a convenience factor to it too and it doesn't go bad. There are probably things these companies could do to make it better but they won't because they don't have to. Healthier alternatives are always more expensive...I pay almost 2x-4x the cost per liter on orange juice...
In this case though she was on a liquid diet and as the specialists stated, even too much water could be fatal.
hey, I use Coke to clean off my battery terminals..it eats the corrosion off the terminals and leaves them like new. In high school in the 50's, we put Coke in a beaker.Then we put in copper strips and a week later the strips were dissolved. Then we repeated the experiment with Pepsi. Took 2 weeks for strips to vanish. Teacher said it was because Coke was more highly carbonated. Started drinking lots of water instead. Figured if carbonation could dissolve copper it could mess up my innards also.
I just hope her kids haven't picked up the same bad eating habits or had their own health effected by second hand smoke.
Why can't you just be honest. It wasn't the coke it was the cigarettes and bad health habits. Don't give Coke a bad name.
Misleading fear-mongering headlining strikes MSNBC again. Clues should have been in the fact that it wasn't a headline, it was a question.
1 - Must NEVER read news stories with headline questions.
Way down in the article we find: "... excessive consumption of Coke and overall poor nutrition." Why in the world was Coke put before overall poor nutrition?
This is not news.
I found it interesting. If every article that people here say is not news were not printed, there would be nothing at all...
Her main disorder would have been lack of education....and bad habits., sort of "goes together". How on earth is that making the News ? it is the norm in poor neighborhoods. Bad diet yet money to buy cigarettes, no money to raise kids properly as we know contraception is cheaper and better for the world. Is anyone listening ?
I have trouble drinking just 1 20 oz. bottle of that stuff. It's all sugar.
Cigarettes is an appetite suppressant. Like her I smoked for over 30 years and drank Pepsi like a fish all day. It kept me thin and I only ate once a day at dinner. I quit 10 years ago and never have regretted it. Not eating is from smoking not from the coke.
a stay-at-home Mom with 8 kids? should have added rum to that coke! Someone should have helped her long before it reached that point of living on nothing but cigarettes and soda - a form of suicide. Poor girl. Sorry to sound sarcastic, after all a young woman lost her life, but WTF? Why didn't someone help her?
My calendar shows 2012. Why is this non-story from New Zealand of well over two years ago now being reported?
*rolleyes* Yeah, it was the COKE that did her in. Not the 30 cigarettes or lack of nutrition. I get it, processed food/drink bad. No kidding. Most people understand the word "moderation" and don't drink 10 liters of soda a day.
It would take me to much Jack to go through 2 gallons of coke!
The Coke was a small contributing factor of her death. But, as many said, it was all about an attention-grabbing headline.
She apparently barely ate, smoked a lot, and gave birth a lot. She did her body no favors at all. She was probably taking in a fraction of a fraction of the required amount of protein. Considering the heart is a muscle and needs protein, it was starving. The smoking starved it even further of oxygen. It became weaker and weaker from her non-eating and smoking habits. The Coke just added the kickers of caffeine and sugar that revved the heart up and made it work harder. A weakened heart having to work harder is just a recipe for a heart attack. Plus however many births it took to get those 8 children did not strengthen the heart in any way.
Coke didn't kill her. A weakened, starved heart killed her. Her choices killed her.
We can only hope her children learn what not to do.