Coca-Cola Addiction Death: Coke Denies Health Risks, Campaign Takes a Hit

We all know that Coca-Cola is bad for us. There are 39 grams of sugar in a tiny 12-ounce can. Yet it remains one of the world's most consumer beverages. Many find it irresistible. Three years ago, a mother of eight passed away due to overconsumption of the sugary soda in New Zealand. Her death has served as a primary example of the dangers of heavy soda consumption, but Coca-Cola has said that it does not believe that its sodas pose as major risks to healthy adults.

The mother of eight, 31-year-old Natasha Harris, who died in 2010, presumably drank more than two gallons of Coke every day. Her unexpected death followed a sudden heart ailment after years of slugging the sugary beverage.

Coroner David Crerar linked Harris' soda habits to her heart failure, noting that her Coca-Cola addiction was a "substantial factor" in her cardiac arrhythmia.

"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," Crerar wrote in his report.

She also is said to have drank so much Coca-Cola that many of her teeth rotted and one of her children was born without teeth enamel, reports Yahoo! News.

Harris' partner told TVNZ, New Zealand's national broadcaster, that she would drink only Coca-Cola and would experience withdrawal-like symptoms if forced to go without it.

Throughout her years of soda abuse, Harris' family didn't think it was dangerous, considering there are no warning labels on Coca-Cola products. Crerar says that the company should give "appropriate warnings related to the dangers of consuming excessive quantities of the products."

Coca-Cola disagrees with Crerar's recommendation and is generally unhappy with the coroner's report, citing Harris' case as an outlier. Regardless, the backlash of her death is certainly affecting its campaign. Soda is now being compared to cigarettes in public health forums and a death like Harris' does not help the soft drink company in defending itself, but it's for the better. It's time we made a change and cut back, if not eliminate, our soda consumption.