Surprise – don’t drink 10 litres of coke a day
February 13th, 2013 at 9:00 am by David FarrarSam Boyer at Stuff reports:
Drinking too much Coke helped kill mother of eight Natasha Harris, the coroner has found.
Harris drank up to 10 litres of Coke every day – equal to more than twice the recommended safe daily limit of caffeine and almost one kilogram of sugar.
She died aged 30, on February 25, 2010, from a cardiac arrest. Her partner, Christopher Hodgkinson, found her seated on the toilet, slumped against the wall and gasping for air.
Of course 10 litres of coke a day will kill you. So will 10 litres of water or orange juice probably.
10 litres of coke is over 4,000 calories a day – and that’s without any food!
Coca-Cola has argued that the huge quantities of Coke drunk daily by Harris day could not be proven to have contributed to her death.
But in findings released today, coroner David Crerar said Harris would not have died if it wasn’t for her dependence on Coke.
Coke have never said that drinking 10 litres of coke a day won’t harm you. If you ate 10 kgs of lamb a day it wouldn’t be great for you – but lamb is not the problem.
What is sad is that no one got her help or intervened to stop her drinking 10 litres a day.
I note the Coroner said:
He recommended the Government consider imposing caffeine and sugar warnings on soft drinks, such as those already compulsory on energy drinks.
The Coroners want their recommendations to require an official Government inquiry and response. Not going to happen when they make so many daft recommendations. I don’t think we need a warning that you should not drink 10 litres of coke a day!
Tags: coke
February 13th, 2013 at 9:05 am
People can (and do) die from drinking too much water as well.
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 9:05 am
Warning stickers on everything?
I thought it was funny in california, they had warning stickers at smokers hang-outs to say that there may be smoke residue on surfaces.
Stupid stupid stupid!!
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 9:08 am
If we had all the warnings requested by coroners we would risk being harmed by too many signs.
This could be dealt with much more simply – a warning that covers everything, given at birth:
Stupidity could cause yourself harm
February 13th, 2013 at 9:12 am
We need warning stickers on water.
I’m sure The Greens will demand an inquiry.
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 9:13 am
David Crerar, the coroner, should be dismissed for his boundless stupidity.
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 9:15 am
WATER.
Vote:Wonderful All Totally Extingusing Resource.
Warning !! Immersion in this product may cause death.
February 13th, 2013 at 9:20 am
I agree, it’s her ( and her immediate family’s) fault and responsibility.
However I guess the issue at hand is also the way that Coca Cola tries to spin it.
Just from the psot above, an interesting juxtaposition of statements:
DPF:Of course 10 litres of coke a day will kill you.
Coca-Cola: Coca-Cola has argued that the huge quantities of Coke drunk daily by Harris day could not be proven to have contributed to her death.
Actually, it seems that is exactly what they are saying.
[DPF: Difference between harm and kill.]
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 9:22 am
I reckon they ought to put warning labels on Politicians
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 9:25 am
There’s definitely a pattern developing:
1) Half wit candidate for a Darwin Award does something stupid enough to kill themselves.
2) Hand wringing moron of a Coroner makes an inane recommendation.
3) Parliament which must be seen to be “doing something” enacts more Nanny State legislation.
4) Another fifty parasitic State Servants are employed to draft regulations & enforce them.
5) The rest of us mugs pay for these measures that are doomed to be ignored.
Rinse & repeat.
February 13th, 2013 at 9:36 am
I am getting tired of these crusading coroners.
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 9:39 am
I assume the 30 cigarettes she smoked daily has been ruled out as contributing to her death?
The main cause of her death was being fucking stupid (IMHO).
February 13th, 2013 at 9:44 am
Our new coronial system seems to have gone to the heads of some of its inhabitants, bit like the supreme court really.
The recommendation to put warning labels on coca-cola warning of caffiene and sugar content is just really just dumb, and doesn’t logically follow from the facts of the case as reported.
Certainly this unfotunate woman seems to have died as a result of a caffiene-induced arrythmia and can be expected to have had unspecified health problems other than dental decay as a result of high sugar consumption. But her primary pathology was almost certainly psychiatric. In other words, if it hadn’t been coke and cigarettes to extreme excess, it would have been something else.
Do we now need warnings on all coffee packets and bottles? Baristas taking 2 minutes to deliver a dire warning to each buyer? For god’s sake. We’ve been protected from this rot here in Wellington, where we have had an intelligent and deliberate coroner for several years in Garry Evans.
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 9:49 am
This reminds me of one of my (un)favourites from a coroner at an inquest into a drowning in the Clutha – and yes, he suggested danger signs on the river.
I don’t think he said how many would be necessary along it’s 338 km length. Ah, and then you get to the coast, another lethal possibility.
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 9:54 am
It was ther same coroner:
http://www.odt.co.nz/regions/central-otago/111460/doubts-river-signs-be-placed
The Clutha Management Committee probably thought putting up signs was stupid but they risked getting the blame if someone else jumped in the river in the same place.
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 9:56 am
Expanding on what Lance said – I know of a girl who had a water obsession and was drinking 10 litres a day and got very sick also – she ended up washing all the salts/electrolytes out of her system.
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 10:01 am
As has been pointed out: the real story here is the coroner. Our coroners are increasingly issuing recommendations which merely deingrate their own office, and often if implemented would do more harm than good. Fortunatly in this instance the recommendations are merely a waste of time.
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 10:06 am
@ eszett – they are correct – it could have been the 30 cigarettes a day she was smoking, or the fact that she was so wired she barely ever slept or her atrocious diet. How about the 10 litres of liquid a day she was taking on board, when a healthy person is meant to have around 3 litres?
Singling out coke as being the cause of her death is impossible.
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 10:28 am
When was the last time anyone listened to a coroner?
Vote:They just bleat out one retarded “recommendation” after another.
What next? warning on water? Drinking 10L of water a day will kill you as well!
Stupid is, stupid does.
February 13th, 2013 at 10:32 am
However I guess the issue at hand is also the way that Coca Cola tries to spin it.
They’re in a no-win situation. Someone abused their product. But admitting that their product can be abused would create the false impression that it’s much more dangerous than it actually is, since anything can be abused. It’s PR spin defending their company against idiots.
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 10:34 am
did anyone hear the sack of crap on ZB this morning?
she was drinking 18 litres of coke a day and her weight ballooned to 200kg hahaha
apparently it can “happen to anyone”. i think the words “before you know it youre drinking 18 litres a day” were spoken.
18 litres. 200kg. so shes sleeping a good 12 hours a day. so thats a 1.5 litre every hour shes awake.
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 10:37 am
I’m not sure there is any specific evidence of her actual regular daily consumption (of coke, cigarettes, food or anything else). The partner is certainly not a reliable withness.
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 10:38 am
or the.fact that she very rarely ate anything. Coke already has the caffiene and sugar content on its labels
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 11:49 am
If it wasn’t for the fact that someone died, they could do this in a light hearted way – one of those ‘retractions’ which makes even more fun of the person you defamed in the first place.
10l of coke is 1kg of sugar a day!
I’m not even sure if it is healthy to drink 10l of water a day.
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 12:50 pm
I assume the coroner has since been dismissed for serious misconduct?
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 12:51 pm
Reading Coroners’ reports can be injurious to your mental health. Perhaps THEY ought to come with a warning.
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 12:55 pm
Agree with the others. We only need one warning sign as long as we hang it around the coroner’s neck and it says ‘WARNING: listening to this twit may be a complete and utter waste of your time’.
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 1:10 pm
Christopher Hodgkinson seems to have been of limited help to his late partner. He has been and is currently “otherwise engaged” following a home invasion.
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2013/02/its-all-cokes-fault-says-the-dopey-coroner-idiot-partner-agrees/
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 1:44 pm
And Coroner’s wonder why Government rejects the notion that their findings be mandatory.
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 5:08 pm
David seems to be able to do that:
Of course 10 litres of coke a day will kill you
I am not Coroner and I assume that neither are you, so how do you know that it is impossible?
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 5:35 pm
8 kids and she was only 30 but could afford coke and ciggies ?
INSPIRATIONAL!!!
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 6:06 pm
Refer to my 1.10pm BWAV
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 6:28 pm
When I was 16 I was a moron drinking who knows how much soft drink a day? 4 litres? 6? A Lot.
Must’ve grown out of it somewhere…
Did the large consumption of soft drink really help kill her? By how much? What did it do exactly?
How much soft drink can you consume before it becomes harmful to your health? What does the scale look like? As in…. is 4 litres ok? What about 5, or 6? What does it do exactly? It’s sugar and caffeine, yeah?
How many people in this country have a similar sort of habit or habits?
I’d say that’s an extreme and fairly isolated case. All the warnings in the world can’t help some of these poor people.
Same kind of issue with pedestrians in Wellington being skittled in the bowling alley. There’s a tide of public opinion that it’s expected that people are able to cross the street safely on their own without big brother holding their hand across the road.
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 6:36 pm
Should have drunk fracking fluid instead.
You know, that stuff the Greens swear is so toxic and dangerous it must never be allowed into New Zealand.
“I drank fracking fluid, says Colorado Gov”
“The first-term Democrat and former Denver mayor told a Senate committee on Tuesday that he actually drank a glass of fracking fluid produced by oilfield services giant Halliburton.
The fluid is made entirely “of ingredients sourced from the food industry,” the company says, making it safe for Mr. Hickenlooper and others to imbibe…”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2013/feb/12/colorado-gov-hickenlooper-i-drank-fracking-fluid/
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 6:55 pm
Haha…that’s ASPIRATIONAL KeepingStock
Easy 3 square meals a day.
Vote:February 13th, 2013 at 7:20 pm
If there’s one brand of lawyer more stupid and out-of-touch than the judge, it has to be the coroner.
Actually, scratch that. Our judges are still much worse.
Vote:February 14th, 2013 at 2:04 am
It could have been malign hypnosis. Food instructions, but unhelpful I am sure this is one technique being used to damage some people. The gangs using this and other harm methods are operating in all our cities, and appear to be wanting a different political system.
Vote: