New Zealand coroner suggests soft-drink health warnings after linking woman's death to Coca-Cola intake

Natasha Harris, 30, died of a heart attack in February 2010. / AP

Wellington A New Zealand food industry association on Wednesday rejected a coroner's call to add health warnings to soft-drink labels following the 2010 death of a woman who drank about 2 gallons of Coca-Cola a day.

Coroner David Crerar issued a final report Tuesday into the death of 31-year-old Natasha Harris, concluding that the mother of eight died from a heart attack. He said the large amount of Coca-Cola she drank likely led to metabolic imbalances that gave rise to her heart problems, adding that Coke was likely a "substantial factor" in her death.

But New Zealand Food & Grocery Council Chief Executive Katherine Rich said "there isn't a labeling regime in the world" that could have prevented the death of somebody who chose to drink Coke in such large quantities.

The New Zealand branch of the Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Company, the world's largest beverage maker, disputed the coroner's findings, noting that experts could not agree on the most likely cause of Harris' death.

Crerar recommended that soft-drink makers consider including caffeine levels on the labels and warnings about the ill health effects if the drinks are consumed in excessive quantities.

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Under New Zealand's food labeling system, warnings are mandatory on drinks with caffeine levels higher than 145 milligrams per kilogram. That covers many energy drinks, but not most soft drinks.

Rich said the coroner's recommendations were well-intentioned but ill-informed. She said that coffee, tea and chocolate also contain significant amounts of caffeine and that New Zealanders are unlikely to support the notion of health warnings every time they walk into a cafe or buy a chocolate bar.

She said the huge volume of Coca-Cola that Harris drank meant she couldn't receive adequate nutrients from other food sources.

"It doesn't matter what the food is. If it's consumed in excess, there will be ill health effects," Rich said. "It's clearly a very tragic and complex case, but not one that provides a strong argument for changes to labeling."

At a 2011 inquest into Harris' death, Vivienne Hodgkinson, the mother of Harris' boyfriend, said that Harris always needed to have Coca-Cola available, and that if she ran out she would "get the shakes, withdrawal symptoms; be angry, on edge and snappy."

The coroner also heard evidence that Harris was of normal weight, didn't eat much or drink any alcohol, and smoked about 30 cigarettes a day. She drank only regular Coke, preferring the taste over diet or caffeine-free varieties. The coroner heard that Harris had no energy in the months leading up to her death, felt ill all the time and often vomited and experienced a racing heart.

The coroner said it was hard to be certain about how much Coke Harris drank, but after reviewing evidence from her partner and friends, as well as 51 supermarket receipts, he estimated it was between 6 and 10 liters (1.6 and 2.6 gallons) per day.

The pathologist who examined Harris found that she likely suffered from hypokalemia, or low potassium, which contributed to her health problems, and that she had an enlarged liver from excessive sugar consumption.

Another pathologist giving expert testimony said that excessive cola consumption "can be dramatically symptomatic, and there are strong hypothetical grounds for this becoming fatal in individual cases."

But a third pathologist giving evidence for Coca-Cola said that Harris' health problems could have been caused by anemia or diabetes, and that genetic factors may also have played a role.

In a statement, Coca-Cola Oceania said it was disappointed the coroner chose to focus on "the combination of Ms. Harris' excessive consumption of Coca-Cola, together with other health and lifestyle factors, as the probable cause of her death. This is contrary to the evidence that showed the experts could not agree on the most likely cause."

[sis2013]

hi am from UK,my sister-in law died 9 months ago who was 53yrs, she also drank coke everyday was never without it,She died very suddenly. The coroner took 3 months to release the death certificate, could not come up with anything that she died of.in the end they said it could have been a virus.I have my own idea because I remember once she gave up coke and felt so much better.But she was a addicted to diet coke and went back to it.I think it will come out in the end but for some its to late.

[peetrerb]

Breathing too quickly, or not quickly enough results in death as well!
what a wacko world.

[SUZAMBA]

We can "LABEL" everything, but what it comes down to, it's a matter of choice. It was her decision to drink a gallon of Coke. Besides, lets be real here, if she truly wanted that Coke, she would have drank it either way!
Sorry for her family.

[lawyertom1]

Drinking two gallons of any liquid without supplementing electrolytes (minerals) can lead to heart problems, as has been long known. Caffeine in excess can also cause heart irregularities, as shown recently by deaths from Monster, RockStar, and comparable drinks. So, there is no surprise in the result from drinking 2 gal. of coke. The more important issue is limiting the amount of caffeine in "energy" drinks, which pose a health threat to those with heart problems. Also, labels need to reflect the real amount of caffeine in drinks since the purveyors hide the caffeine amounts through use of various caffeine containing ingredients.

[griffon49]

Maybe she had diabetes insipidis and had to drink constantly and drank coke instead of water. The quantity of liquid is so large that it would lean towards that diagnosis. Just wondering how easy that is to diagnose diabetes insipidis at autopsy.

[lnytnz]

Soda Pop is the worst thing you can drink, responsible for numerous bad health effects. I use it to clean the battery cables on my car. putting it in my body---not a chance in Hell

[matt6052]

I"m surprised all her teeth didn't fall out.

[Jonseen]

I can understand why they chose not to blame the soda makers for this woman's death. Seems that her own choices contributed to her bad health. Eight kids by the time she's 31, plus 30 cigarettes a day, plus 2 gallons of coke a day... WOW. And WOW. There's a lot of things going on there that are obviously risk factors, and apparently it all caught up with her.

[judymar14]

Put a warning label on everything, eventually a study will find something wrong with the product.

[HobartSchmenge]

We may never know whether too much soda can kill you or not, but it's pretty apparent that too much stupidity can be lethal.