Kiwi woman Natasha Marie Harris dies of 'drinking up to 8 litres of Coke daily for 8 yrs'

COKE LOVER: Natasha Harris didn't like being without the fizzy drink.

Fairfax NZINQUIRY: Christopher Hodgkinson at the inquest into the death of his partner Natasha Harris.

A NEW ZEALAND man who claims his partner died because she drank too much Coca-Cola says she consumed up to eight litres a day.

Natasha Marie Harris, 30, died suddenly more than two years ago.

At a coroner's inquest into her death today, her partner, Christopher Hodgkinson, said Ms Harris was unwell before her death but he never thought the soft drink could be to blame, the Southland Times reported.

"I didn't ever think about the Coke. I never considered it would do any harm to a person. It's a soft drink ... I didn't think a drink's going to kill you," Mr Hodgkinson, from Invercargill, said.

He estimated she drank between 4.5 and eight litres a day for seven or eight years before she died.

Last year the Southland Times reported Ms Harris's autopsy showed she had a diseased liver but the cause of death was undetermined.

Mr Hodgkinson said he had been informed his partner, and the mother of their eight children, had a heart aneurysm caused by too much Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola Amatil New Zealand managing director George Adams said at the time that Mr Hodgkinson's claims were "patently untrue".

SOURCE: dailytelegraph.com.au