Woman Dies From Coca-Cola Overdose? Sort Of

A woman in New Zealand recently passed away and experts believe that her addiction to Coke may have been the cause of her demise. And that’s Coca-Cola, the soda, by the way, not cocaine.

The Associated Press reports that Natasha Harris, 30, drank at least 2-gallons of Coca-Cola a day. Harris’ partner, Chris Hodgkinson, said at an inquest into Harris’ death:

“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… She was addicted to Coke.”

Harris officially died of a heart attack in February 2010. Pathologist Dr. Dan Mornin said that Harris likely suffered from hypokalemia, or low potassium, which Mornin believes was caused by her Coke addiction. Mornin also said that Harris was smoking about 30-cigarettes a day before her death and wasn’t eating well.

Another pathologist, Dr. Martin Sage, said:

“Excessive long or short term cola ingestion can be dramatically symptomatic, and there are strong hypothetical grounds for this becoming fatal in individual cases.”

The Associated Press reports that Australia occasionally holds inquests into unusual deaths to shape safety policies. Karen Thompson, a spokeswoman for Coca-Cola Oceania, is hoping that Australia doesn’t make some rash decision against Coca-Cola products. Thompson said that it is possible to overdose after excessively ingesting just about anything. Thompson said:

“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.”

Are you surprised that a diet consisting of Coca-Cola and cigarettes would be harmful to your health?