A Coca-Cola addiction death happened in New Zealand, according to a Feb. 12 Gawker report. Natasha Harris, 30, died of a heart attack three years ago, and the coroner ruled Coca-Cola consumption contributed to her cause of death.
It seems that the 30-year-old Invercargill, New Zealand resident and mother of eight ingested an extreme amount of the fizzy, caffeinated beverage. Her family reports that she drank as much as 2.5 gallons of Coca-Cola each day. According to her sister-in-law,
"(She would) go crazy if she ran out... she would get the shakes, withdrawal symptoms, be angry, on edge and snappy."
While Coca-Cola has claimed that Natasha Harris could not have died from over consumption of their product, the coroner's official report found that the beverage was indeed the main contributor to her death. Coroner David Crerar wrote,
"I find that, when all of 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."
Even so, the coroner does not believe the company should be held responsible for the extreme actions of its products consumers. He did suggest, however, that the company consider putting a label warning of the dangers of excessive consumption.
Despite the coroner's report, Coca-Cola does not believe that this mother's death was a Coca-Cola addiction death. It does not seem likely that the company will add warning labels to its drinks either.
The point of this entire thing is, excessive consumption of anything could cause death. People even die after excessive consumption of water. It is all about a little common sense. Do not drink 2.5 gallons of Coca-Cola every day. If you do, you should probably stop.
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