Coca-Cola drinking 'linked to New Zealander's death'

[klr]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21423499

Drinking large quantities of Coca-Cola was a "substantial factor" in the death of 30-year-old woman in New Zealand, a coroner has said.

Natasha Harris, who died three years ago after a cardiac arrest, drank up to 10 litres of the fizzy drink each day.

This is twice the recommended safe limit of caffeine and more than 11 times the recommended sugar intake.

Coca-Cola had argued that it could not be proved its product had contributed to Ms Harris' death.

The mother of eight, from the southern city of Invercargill, had suffered for years from ill-health.

Her family said she had developed an addiction to Coca-Cola and would get withdrawal symptoms, including "the shakes", if she went without her favourite drink.

She drank Coke throughout her waking hours and her teeth had been removed because of decay.

Coroner David Crerar said her Coca-Cola consumption had given rise to cardiac arrhythmia, a condition when the heart beats too fast or too slow.

"I find that when all the available evidence is considered, were it not for the consumption of very large quantities of Coke by Natasha Harris, it is unlikely that she would have died when she died and how she died," Mr Crerar's finding said.

The coroner calculated that drinking 10 litres (17.5 pints) of Coke amounted to more than 1kg (2.2lb) of sugar and 970mg of caffeine, Television New Zealand (TVNZ) reports.

Mr Crerar said that Coca-Cola could not be held responsible for the health of consumers who drank excessive quantities of its product.

But he called on soft drinks companies to display clearer warnings on their beverages about the risks of too much sugar and caffeine.

Ms Harris and her family should have heeded the warning signs about her ill-health, the coroner added.

"The fact she had her teeth extracted several years before her death because of what her family believed was Coke induced tooth decay, and the fact that one or more of her children were born without enamel on their teeth, should have been treated by her, and by her family, as a warning," TVNZ quotes his statement as saying.

Up to 10 litres a day?

[cronus]

Still putting cocaine in?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

There were no responsible adults around, I take it?

[Bella Fortuna]

Jesus! Some sort of obsessiveness problem?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Jesus! Some sort of obsessiveness problem?

Clearly bad enough to get her into a controlled environment. Unless her relatives just didn't give a fuck, of course.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

10 litres a day! Her life must have been one long burp!

[Gawdzilla Sama]

She was getting 4,000 calories a day from the soda alone, all in form of carbs.

[klr]

The most I've ever consumed in a day would be 2, maybe 2 1/2 tops. But that would be in extreme conditions - hot weather, lots and lots and lots of walking. I positively need the sugar in situations like those.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The most I've ever consumed in a day would be 2, maybe 2 1/2 tops. But that would be in extreme conditions - hot weather, lots and lots and lots of walking. I positively need the sugar in situations like those.

I drank diet soda exclusively for the past six years. Don't miss the sugar.

[mistermack]

Don't like coke or pepsi or any cola. Don't like or buy any soda drinks. So I don't get it why people do.

You know how they calculate how many people die worldwide, as a result of three-mile island, or chernobyl.
They should calculate how many die from cola every year. And how many teeth are destroyed by fizzy drinks.
And put pictures on the bottles, like cigarettes.

[Warren Dew]

10 liters a day is way too much. I used to survive on half that much in college even when I wasn't actually consuming anything else.

Uh, "born without enamel"? How does the mother drinking soft drinks cause that?

[JimC]

10 litres of gin would be a tad excessive, even for me...

[Clinton Huxley]

I limit myself to at most half a dozen small cans of dandelion and burdock a year.

[Jason]

One of my uncles had a terrible coke habit. He went from a lakeside mansion to a one bedroom apartment.

[JimC]

I tried sniffing Coke once, but had to stop...

The bubbles went right up my nose...