Coca-Cola Habit Cited In Death Of Natasha Harris

Natasha Harris

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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Comments

[Gizmo9]

08:15 PM on 04/27/2012

another fine episode for ...1000 ways to die....

[Barbara Saunders]

05:23 PM on 04/27/2012

Come on! The intended implication is "soda is bad for you." Very few people drink 2 gallons of anything. This is not particularly relevant.

[jonathanzimmel]

08:13 PM on 04/26/2012

so she drank 2 gallons of soda a day and had 8 children at 30 years old.
now her parents are suing the maker of the soda that it did not come with a warning....

someone should sue the maker of her privates for not giving her a warning about excessive use of that

[Noel1789]

06:51 AM on 04/26/2012

I cannot believe that people are ignorant enough to 'not know' that drinking that much of an unhealthy drink couldn't kill you?? That's like saying that eating Mcdonalds every day won't kill you. DUH!

[nonnie54]

10:46 PM on 04/25/2012

I drink Pepsi.

[Matt Owens]

01:40 PM on 04/25/2012

Have you seen this? Have you heard about this? A woman in New Zealand DIED after starting a habit of drinking 2 gallons of coca-cola a day... have you seen this?

Now that's what I call a coke problem! HAAA

(future Leno monologue)

[Gizmo9]

08:11 PM on 04/27/2012

keep your day job!

[butchcliff]

07:09 AM on 04/25/2012

Used to drink a ton of cola. Have stopped. My pancreas/stomach/bowels/kidneys/weight have shown me the error of my ways. Stuff is deadly when overused/abused for your body.

[meryta]

12:48 AM on 08/15/2012

Any excess is deadly - an excess of ignorance is - and thinking Coca_Cola is anything other than hydration plus a sugar fix seems ignorant.
A pity the manufacturers and media feed that addiction for profit.

[butchcliff]

06:46 AM on 08/15/2012

True. But it used to taste so good

[ish1]

02:48 AM on 04/25/2012

So, 2 gallons of pepsi is ok.

[Gizmo9]

07:21 PM on 04/27/2012

sure... pepsi is ok

[maxmama212]

02:17 AM on 04/25/2012

How about being 30 and having 8 kids? That'd be enough to give anyone a heart attack! To think I feel guilty if I have more than one soda. The solution for lack of energy is not coke with no food. Good food is fuel, coke is just a poser when it comes to energy (coffee too). Thats like saying smoking calms the nerves...wrong.

[bozoboi]

02:15 AM on 04/25/2012

coke did not kill her...stupidity did

[Gizmo9]

07:16 PM on 04/27/2012

finally some words of wisdom...

[Skyler McLane]

04:01 PM on 04/24/2012

Anything in excess is dangerous.

If this was her only source of calories, then this isn't just coke's fault..... You can't live on jsut water, and you can't live on just soda. She also smoked. Sounds more like she brought it on herself. The only real victim(s) in this story are the 8 motherless children, and the widower left to pick up the ashes.

[rudy in la]

03:34 PM on 04/24/2012

3 quarts of Coke a day is my limit.

[Chigirl60]

01:53 PM on 04/24/2012

Eight children by age 30 is too many in this day and age. It doesn't sound like her welfare was on anyone's radar.

[Gwynnerae]

10:35 AM on 04/25/2012

Really? It must be nice to be an authority on how people live their lives. I have a friend with eight kids and she is just thirty. She manages beautifully and the kids are all thriving. Not so long ago large families were the norm-both my mother and father-in-law were one of eight and eleven kids respectively. They had eight kids themselves- and there isn't a bad one in the bunch. If they can support their kids then no one has the right to say anything.

[Chigirl60]

10:23 PM on 04/25/2012

You're fortunate to be connected to people who could handle their responsibilities without being overwhelmed.

[ms eve]

12:35 PM on 04/24/2012

I certainly hope this doesn't result in a frivolous lawsuit that wastes the resources of the court system. This young lady obviously had a problem, and it is not the fault of Coca Cola in any way.

[2crudedudes]

12:05 PM on 04/24/2012

"...a conclusion that led the soft-drink giant to note that even water can be deadly in excessive amounts."

Excessive along the magnitude of 5 gallons in one sitting, not 2 gallons a day.

[ceanf]

05:11 PM on 05/30/2012

your numbers are a bit high crudedudes. its more along the lines of 2 gallons (~7.5L) in a sitting (~2 Hours). and there have been cases noted where people have died from water overdose after drinking just 4L in about a two hour period.

so no, it is not really that excessive now is it?