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A mum-of-eight’s addiction to guzzling gallons of Coca Cola helped kill her, a coroner had ruled.

Natasha Harris downed up to 10 litres of the fizzy drink every day and got withdrawal symptoms if she ran out.

Over an eight year period it’s estimated she had drunk more than 50,000 pints of Coke.

The 30-year-old died from a cardiac arrest at her home in Invercargill in New Zealand on February 25, 2010.

Her partner, Christopher Hodgkinson, found her on the toilet, slumped against the wall gasping for air.

Her family said they were shocked because labels on the bottles do not contain warnings about the possibility of getting hooked on the drink.

Coca Cola argued the huge quantities of Coke that Harris drank every day could not be proven to have contributed to her death.

However in findings released today, coroner David Crerar said the woman would not have died if it wasn’t for her dependence on the drink.

Reacting to the ruling bosses at the multi-national drinks company said they were “disappointed” it had focus on her consumption of the fizzy drink.

Downing almost 18 pints a day is equal to more than twice the recommended safe daily limit of caffeine and almost one kilogram of sugar.

Coroner David Crerar said: “I find that, when all of 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.”

In the months leading up to her death her health had deteriorated, her partner said.

Christopher told an earlier hearing: “She had no energy and was feeling sick all the time ... She would get up and vomit in the morning.”

He said her Coke habit had become an addiction: “She would get moody and get headaches if she didn’t have any Coke and also feel low in energy.

“She had been drinking a lot of Coca-Cola over the past seven or eight years,” he said.

(Image: Getty)

He added: “I didn’t ever think about the Coke. I never considered it would do any harm to a person.

"It’s just a soft drink, just like drinking water. I didn’t think a drink’s going to kill you.”

Vivien Hodgkinson, Christopher’s mother, said she got “withdrawal symptoms” if her Coke ran out and would go “crazy” if she ran out of the drink.

The family did not consider Coke was harmful because its labels do not contain warning signs.

Harris suffered from a list of medical conditions, including a racing heart and ‘absent teeth’, which her family say had rotted out from Coke consumption.

They claim the drink also ruined her children’s teeth, with at least one of her kids being born without enamel on their teeth.

Dr Dan Mornin told the coroner Natasha probably had severe hypokalemia, a lack of potassium in the blood, relating to excessive consumption of soft drink.

He said although it was difficult to confirm this from post-mortem tests, it was consistent with her symptoms of tiredness and lack of strength and other cases of heavy soft-drink consumers.

He added it was likely the vomiting was due to too much caffeine, medically known as caffeine toxicity.

In a statement Coca Cola said: “The Coroner acknowledged that he could not be certain what caused Ms Harris’ heart attack.

“Therefore we are disappointed that the Coroner has chosen to focus on the combination of Ms Harris’ excessive consumption of Coca-Cola, together with other health and lifestyle factors, as the probable cause of her death.

“This is contrary to the evidence that showed the experts could not agree on the most likely cause”.