newjerseynewsroom.com

BY CHRISTINE SAVOIA

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Addiction may have contributed to the tragic death of 30-year-old New Zealand mother Natasha Harris. While her partner reports that Harris did smoke about 30 cigarettes a day, experts are saying a different kind of addiction may be to blame — one involving Coca Cola.

"She was addicted to Coke," her partner Chris Hodgkinson said, according to the Associated Press, referring not to the drug, but the drink. "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.”

CBS News reports that Harris drank between 2.1 and 2.6 gallons of the sugary soft drink every day.

Harris allegedly collapsed one morning in February after helping her children get ready for school. Hodgkinson called emergency services and tried to use mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but was unable to revive her.

It was ultimately reported that Harris died of cardiac arrhythmia, a usually harmless condition, according to the Mayo Clinic, in which electrical impulses in your heart that coordinate your heartbeats don't work properly, causing your heart to beat too fast, too slow or irregularly.

Yahoo! News reports that, in fairness to Coca Cola, Harris previously had high blood pressure and made other poor health decisions, including the smoking and poor eating habits. “According to New Zealand's Fairfax Media, pathologist Dr. Dan Mornin testified on Thursday that Harris likely suffered from hypokalemia (low potassium levels), which he believes was caused by her overall poor nutrition, including the unusually high levels of Coke consumption.”

The Coca Cola company defended its product in response, stating that the “grossly excessive ingestion of any food product, including water,” can lead to health problems.