A mother-of-eight who had an up to 10-litre a day Coca-Cola drinking habit never knew that excessive consumption of the beverage was contributing to her health problems, an inquest into her sudden death heard today.
The Otago-Southland coroner David Crerar heard that Natasha Marie Harris died, aged 30, after a cardiac arrest.
At the time of her death, her partner Chris Hodgkinson spoke out that it was the result of drinking too much Coca-cola and held the company responsible for her death, a claim Coca-Cola rejected but the company was sufficiently concerned that they hired a security firm to protect their Invercargill staff.
Hodgkinson told the court that she had been unwell up to a year before her death, including vomiting six times a week, but Ms Harris, himself and family members believed it was from the stress of managing her eight children and gynecological problems.
"She drank at least 10 litres a day. As a family we would buy four 2.5 litres a day, the maximum on special. The Coke would be for Natasha to consume over the course of the day. The first thing she would do in the morning was have a drink of Coke and the last thing she would do in the day was have a drink of Coke by her bed.''
