By 3 News online staff
A 30-year-old woman who died suddenly in 2010 drank too much Coca-Cola says her partner.
Natasha Marie Harris, a mother of eight, died in February 2010 from a cardiac arrest, and her partner Christopher Hodgkinson told an inquest into her death yesterday that she drank at least 10 litres a day, the Otago Daily Times reports.
Medical records said Ms Harris died of a cardiac arrhythmia, which a doctor in court yesterday said could have been caused by excessive consumption of a sugary drink.
Dr Dan Mornin said the consumption can cause severe hypokalemia, a lack of potassium in the blood which could lead to cardiac arrythmias.
But Mr Hodgkinson said he had no idea a soft drink like Coca-Cola could kill her at the time.
He said she drank it first and last thing each day and throughout the day, and vomited regularly.
She had also been feeling moody, and low in energy, which he thought was due to stress.
But Mr Mornin said those symptoms were consistent with heavy soft drink consumption and vomiting could be caused by ingesting too much caffeine.
However he said it would be tricky to confirm his analysis in post-mortem tests.
3 News
source: newshub archive
