People dying from drinking soda pop

[choff]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow...161323721.html

Funny..last night at the supermarket when I was at the check out buying a 12 pack of Pepsi I had noless than THREE folks...a customer behind me, the cashier and the bagger telling me that I should not buy such "poison" meaning the Pepsi and ALL of them told me about this story about the dead girl in New Zealand and her Coca-Cola habit. Strange how earlier when I had entered the market I had noticed both the cashier and bagger smoking Black & Mild CIGARS and sucking down RED BULL. When I had brought this up the bagger got very pissed screaming how cigars are better for you than cigarettes and Red Bull is harmless as well but Pepsi can kill you !!

The bagger at the market claimed that he himself had known people who had died from drinking soda pop and that is why he had switched to Red Bull. OK is it really possible for someone to die from actually drinking soda or is this part of those who for one reason or other had stopped drinking soda in favor of energy drinks thinking that they are better for your health? The most anti-soda pop people I have met usually are drinkers of Red Bull or Rockstar.

[MirrorDimly]

So a complete stranger can advise you on your personal health and consumer choices, quoting a case while leaving out critical information (2 gallons/day + 30 smokes/day + other choices =). But when you share information with them (smoking's bad, mm-kay), they get upset.!!!
This is Amurrica. God bless our freedom of speech and choices. And if some chick in New Zealand dies from what appear to be her own choices (and probably against her doctor's orders), it's not our problem... JMHO

[Forever-27]

Id put the store on yelp and tell the whole thing to the world. Then the newspapers.

[SomeChick]

If people are telling you "she died from drinking soda", they either aren't paying attention or have only heard part of the story. The story you linked to shows there was a lot more to it than that.

[RaRaRamona]

In the comments they worked it out - 21 cans of coke a day. Who does that?

[cindyt]

You can die from too much water too. The deal is you can drink too much of any kind of liquid and it will flush your potassium et al out of your body. On temp or permanent medication? Chronically drinking too much liquid will flush the meds out of your system before they have a chance to work. That's what a doctor told my mama about her 12-can-a-day booze habit.

[SomeChick]

In the comments they worked it out - 21 cans of coke a day. Who does that?

Not me, but I'll tell ya what. People here drink tons of soda, Rockstar and stuff like that. I'm surprised they have any teeth left!

[choff]

If people are telling you "she died from drinking soda", they either aren't paying attention or have only heard part of the story. The story you linked to shows there was a lot more to it than that.

Oh I know that !! My guess is that since so many folks in recent years for one reason or another had turned against soda they were looking for that "smoking gun" for them to say "Ah HA..SODA KILLS". even if the story is from a place like New Zealand and the death had to do with a LOT more than just Coca-Cola. Funny, when The Coca Cola Company had recently decided to cut back on ads and the layoffs at Pepsi I remember seeing the "soda kills...Rockstar doesn't" folks posting on Yahoo and I believe even ABC News. I said to myself..I bet we will see a story within a few weeks about some poor soul dying and a soda pop would be mentioned and people would found find a way to single that out.

I was right about that !! Shoud've had bet money.

[SomeChick]

You go, choff!

Isn't that Rockstar stuff loaded with caffeine? As in much more than a cup of coffee? A girlfriend of mine was drinking a few of those every day until she recently found out she was pregnant. If I remember right, she said her doctor told her to stop drinking those altogether because of the caffeine in them. Could've been they contain high levels of something else that's unhealthu for pregnant women but I'm pretty sure she said it was that.

[Mammy]

I don't know what made the employees think they have any right to be commenting on your purchases in the first place. It's no skin off their ass if you live totally on a cupcake and Pepsi diet. It is their job to ring up your purchases and put it into bags, not give a commentary on your purchases.

[aLiLdirt]

The one good personal thing I recieved from the soda death stories is that my brother agreed to cut his consumption of that type of product. He typically drinks at least a case of Diet cola a day, which has worried the heck out of me for years. I gave it up a long time ago. (Regular soda. Diet stuff tastes like poison to me.)
On the very rare occasions that I splurge and order a Coke or a Dr Pepper, I now get hiccups after the first few sips.
Not worth it.

[radiojane]

Aside from rotting your teeth, eating away at your stomach and, as Cindy pointed out, flushing the potassium out of your system, the diet stuff will deplete your Thiamine to dangerous levels. My father went 15+ years drinking 4 to 6 litres per day of diet pepsi. It contributed to the stroke that killed him.

[cindyt]

The one good personal thing I recieved from the soda death stories is that my brother agreed to cut his consumption of that type of product. He typically drinks at least a case of Diet cola a day, which has worried the heck out of me for years. I gave it up a long time ago. (Regular soda. Diet stuff tastes like poison to me.)
On the very rare occasions that I splurge and order a Coke or a Dr Pepper, I now get hiccups after the first few sips.
Not worth it.

Ye gads!

Aside from rotting your teeth, eating away at your stomach and, as Cindy pointed out, flushing the potassium out of your system, the diet stuff will deplete your Thiamine to dangerous levels. My father went 15+ years drinking 4 to 6 litres per day of diet pepsi. It contributed to the stroke that killed him.

Before my heart attack I would drink at least a 12 pack of Coke Classic each day and sometimes that and a 2 liter bottle. And I wasn't eating much. That probably brought my heart attack on. Now I don't drink nearly half that much. It may be poison but I can't eat what I want and I can't smoke so I drink Diet Coke, but god not a bathtub full.

[Seagorath]

Sounds like a big load of shit to me.

[radiojane]

I drink way too much Coke, but I won't touch the diet. Cutting back to roughly a third of my consumption (so maybe a can a day), has sped up my weight loss and upped my energy a lot. I don't judge or preach, especially to strangers in grocery stores, but I'm aware that it's bad for me.

People that live on those energy drinks scare the bejesus out of me. That stuff is like gasoline.

[Nelliebean]

My weakness while driving is to hit a drive-thru for a soda.

I really need to stop since it's junk calories.

[Mammy]

I never leave Sam's Club without buying a huge fountain drink for the trip home because they are only 89 cents.

[jmaestro]

I gave up all pop/soda on new years 11/12. I drank Pepsi, and Jim Beam all the time. Since I quit the Pepsi I hardly ever drink Beam anymore, It's just not the same. I've also dropped about 15 pounds. woo hoo!

[Mammy]

I don't drink, smoke, do drugs, or gamble. I'm keeping the caffeine.

[james1977]

Everything in moderation

[KiwiDeathy]

yeah no one down here thinks the cola company is to blame, but if she was drinkin about 8 litres a day, the supermarkets charge between $1.99 and $3.20 for a 2.25 litre bottle of coke, so she was spending around $15 a day on coke, silly wench she was

there are so many health shows n stuff that tell you softdrinks are no good for you so she would have known it wasnt healthy, im thinking her partner just wants a buck or two from the company

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/coca...-death-4842680

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/6773...-of-Coke-a-day

[Flowergrrl]

^^This. First off, Redbull *insert any energy drink* is by far worse than soda, next, diet soda is worse than regular soda... However, regular isn't good for you in any way either. We tried to tell my grandma to quit drinking diet sodas all the time (that's all she ever drank, no water, no tea, nothing else)... And she died younger than she should have from kidney failure. My dad drinks diet soda all the time, I keep telling him he NEEDS to find something ELSE. I know of someone else who died from drinking soda all the time, his doctor even forewarned him about damage to his kidneys... And that was years ago. Soda, especially diet, will destroy your kidneys.

Like Cindy mentioned though, drinking too much water is bad for you. That's why you're not supposed to give an infant a baby bottle with water in it... Well, it can do the same thing to an adult. Don't think you can't drink water while you exercise though, you're replacing what you are sweating out... It's not the same as sitting down and drinking a bunch of water, that is what will kill you. Coffee is another horror. Caffeine robs your bones of calcium- Every time you drink it, or soda, AND especially Redbull, you're risking having your bones destroyed from the inside out.

As with anything else, I hardly find Coke guilty or liable in this woman's death... No one made her drink it.

[Bbeelzebub]

You only die from drinking soda when you use it to wash down some "Pop rocks candy". I mean EVERYBODY knows that.

At least that is the story I always heard as a kid. Something about it basically being the human equivalent of giving a bird Alka Seltzer.

[SomeChick]

You only die from drinking soda when you use it to wash down some "Pop rocks candy". I mean EVERYBODY knows that.

Haa! I remember that urban legend too.

[DrDeath]

Y'all have covered most of what I'd say, however I would add: when did she find the TIME to drink that amount of pop? I manage to find time to have a couple of cups of coffee before work, a can of diet or half a bottle of some water based product tops at lunch, then nothing at work apart from a couple of mouthfuls of water and then by the time I've picked up Ickle Death and driven home and I sit down for dinner it's 5-6pm and if I tried to imbibe that amount of liquid I'd explode.

She must have had a can clamped into her hand 24/7!

[Flowergrrl]

Don't forget mixing Diet Coke with Mentos...

[DonnaMc]

I'll be the first one to go! lol I drink Cokes all day long.

[Shattered Dreams]

I do drink alot of soda, about a 12 pack a day.. But my great-grandfather did die from a Pepsi... We joke about it (I never knew him, my great-grandfather was only 3? when he died)..
His reason, he was outside working, it was a hot day... He chugged a cold pepsi which caused a heart attack and killed him. It is the joke that he died from a pepsi, but any drink (water, or anything) would of done the same thing...
At least that is the story I got...

[cindyt]

I had an uncle who wouldn't take his pressure meds as prescribed. One hellish hot afternoon he was out cutting his grass on a riding mower. Came in, downed an icy glass of tea and dropped dead of a heart attack. He was 42.

[Bbeelzebub]

After reading this story, I've come to the conclusion I am safe from harm.


I only drink Dr. Pepper and well, that is obviously good for you because it's made by a doctor!

[Flowergrrl]

After my grandma had heart surgery, she was told to stay away from chocolate because of the caffeine in it (which doesn't make sense because she still drank diet coke all the time). But anyway, if you have a bad heart, blood pressure, anything like that... Drinking something with caffeine in it could kill you. So, for someone to drink a glass of tea or a soda, it is entirely possible it would cause too much stress on their heart and cause a heart attack.

[neilmpenny]

I love these wacky treads.

[cindyt]

The point is someone with a bad heart should take care, like not getting overheated and downing a glass of iced beverage. That's what brought the heart attack on. I can't drink regular coffee because gives me anxiety attacks, but the caffeine in soda doesn't do that. Of course, I don't drink but maybe three 12 oz bottles or cans per day.

[Nelliebean]

My granduncle was working on an oil rig (1960 something) on a hot Oklahoma summer day. He took a break and chugged a cold glass of water and dropped dead.

The coldness of the water must have been a real shock to his system.

[Flowergrrl]

That's because of the caffeine content, coffee has way more caffeine in it than soda or tea... 145mg in cup of coffee versus 34mg in a can of Coca Cola.

http://www.energyfiend.com/the-caffeine-database

[pwem]

I didn't start drinking coffee and diet coke until I was in my 30's and working in a high pressure job.

I have a couple of cups of coffee a day and a tea at teatime. Diet coke with certain meals. I can't enjoy Chinese food without it.

[pwem]

After reading this story, I've come to the conclusion I am safe from harm.


I only drink Dr. Pepper and well, that is obviously good for you because it's made by a doctor!

[Uncle Gilly]

You can die from too much water too. The deal is you can drink too much of any kind of liquid and it will flush your potassium et al out of your body. On temp or permanent medication? Chronically drinking too much liquid will flush the meds out of your system before they have a chance to work. That's what a doctor told my mama about her 12-can-a-day booze habit.

Your mother had a 12 can a day booze habit, and you think it was the liquid aspect that harmed her health? uh yeah like saying to a heroin addict be careful of those dirty needles !

[radiojane]

I would venture to guess the doctor was trying to get the behavior to change without stigmatizing the patient by bringing up alcoholism.

[johnny]

I got rid of the diet pepsi about 9 months ago. i use to drink 6-8 a day, mostly for the caffeine content. But after a few decades of that my joints and ankles were absolutely killing me. Felt like someone was taking a ball bat to me when I first started to walk around in the morning and it would continue throughout the day. Tried a number of things like different shoes, move free supplements, etc that had a small impact but a friend -who is a doctor- told me about aspartame. After reading up on it i got rid of the diet pepsi. Within 6 weeks I started to feel better and by 3 months I was pain free. As much as I miss my old reliable diet pepsi fix, the pain makes it an easy choice. I found water with some flavoring -just a bit- is much better and if I need caffeine I just get a cup of Coffee (living in Seattle it's hard to walk 50 feet without spotting a coffeehouse).

[cindyt]

Jane, that was probably partly so.

[beep]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow...161323721.html

funny..last night at the supermarket when i was at the check out buying a 12 pack of pepsi i had noless than three folks...a customer behind me, the cashier and the bagger telling me that i should not buy such "poison" meaning the pepsi and all of them told me about this story about the dead girl in new zealand and her coca-cola habit. Strange how earlier when i had entered the market i had noticed both the cashier and bagger smoking black & mild cigars and sucking down red bull. When i had brought this up the bagger got very pissed screaming how cigars are better for you than cigarettes and red bull is harmless as well but pepsi can kill you !!

the bagger at the market claimed that he himself had known people who had died from drinking soda pop and that is why he had switched to red bull. Ok is it really possible for someone to die from actually drinking soda or is this part of those who for one reason or other had stopped drinking soda in favor of energy drinks thinking that they are better for your health? The most anti-soda pop people i have met usually are drinkers of red bull or rockstar.

How is this grocery store still in business?!?!

[endsleigh03]

Wondering how much water is too much water per day.....

We have bottled water and milk in the house and thats about it. Soda is pretty rare.

I'm addicted to coffee (all water again)

Don't want to die like that Wee for a Wii woman.

ETA: After reading this thread betcha I never chug a glass of ice water after coming in from 97 degree weather.

[cindyt]

Wondering how much water is too much water per day.....

We have bottled water and milk in the house and thats about it. Soda is pretty rare.

I'm addicted to coffee (all water again)

Don't want to die like that Wee for a Wii woman.

ETA: After reading this thread betcha I never chug a glass of ice water after coming in from 97 degree weather.

In a word, yes. Drinking too much water can lead to a condition known as water intoxication and to a related problem resulting from the dilution of sodium in the body, hyponatremia. Water intoxication is most commonly seen in infants under six months of age and sometimes in athletes. A baby can get water intoxication as a result of drinking several bottles of water a day or from drinking infant formula that has been diluted too much. Athletes can also suffer from water intoxication. Athletes sweat heavily, losing both water and electrolytes. Water intoxication and hyponatremia result when a dehydrated person drinks too much water without the accompanying electrolytes...it's not how much you drink it's how fast you drink it.

http://chemistry.about.com/cs/5/f/blwaterintox.htm

I was just thinking last night that it might be how fast you drink liquids

[choff]

How is this grocery store still in business?!?!

Simple..its a well known but regional chain...Food Lion...with that being said I am not at all surprised at what happened. Not at all !!!!

The bagger and cashier and the customer behind me were all in the early 20's. No I didn't ask but one can tell quite easily and of course not saying that ALL young people are like this but many of them just do not believe that things such as energy drinks and cigars are bad but at the same time slam soda pop like Pepsi and Dr. Pepper by screaming at how unhealthy they are instead. Check out old cigarette ads on You Tube. A good many of young people can't handle them if one reads the comments but they have no issue at all puffing on a grape flavored Prime Time little cigar. Same with those all you can eat buffets like Old Country, Ryan's and Golden Corral. One of my dad's friends until recently was a manager of a Ryan's Buffet. He would be the first to say that they had a problem of young people walking up to the tables of those who are overweight only to SCREAM "..YOU FAT FUCKS..GET ON A DIET" and other nasty stuff. Of course after being asked to leave all of them tried to pull that "...were we just trying to help..we care"..and/or "we doing it for Michelle Obama..part of the war on obesity'. Yeah right....

[Mammy]

It really has nothing to do with anything, but nearly all of the Food Lions that were in surrounding counties where I live have gone out of business, one in just the past month. I can't imagine going up to a complete stranger and screaming at them for being fat. I know a lot of young people suck, but I didn't know how bad.

It irritates the crap out of me when employees at a store that you go to feel the need to comment on your purchases, even just little comments. One cashier that rang up my purchases a few months ago commented on practically everything I bought, "oh, I like this" "is this good?" "I didn't know we sold that here" "this is good, but soooo fattening." Geez, just ring the shit up and put it in a bag already. The worst was a trip I made to Sam's Club just recently. I usually go once a month and really stock up on everything and then just buy odds and ends at the grocery store between times. As I was leaving, the guy who looks at the receipt and checks the cart said, "Dang! You must be feeding a herd of wild boars!" while looking me up and down. I told him, "Don't worry about it, slick, you're not a bag of bones yourself!" He looked so surprised and said "there is no need for you to be rude." I told him that maybe he would remember that the next time he decided to be a smartass and comment on someone's purchases and would do his job and mind his own business.

[cindyt]

It really has nothing to do with anything, but nearly all of the Food Lions that were in surrounding counties where I live have gone out of business, one in just the past month. I can't imagine going up to a complete stranger and screaming at them for being fat. I know a lot of young people suck, but I didn't know how bad.

It irritates the crap out of me when employees at a store that you go to feel the need to comment on your purchases, even just little comments. One cashier that rang up my purchases a few months ago commented on practically everything I bought, "oh, I like this" "is this good?" "I didn't know we sold that here" "this is good, but soooo fattening." Geez, just ring the shit up and put it in a bag already. The worst was a trip I made to Sam's Club just recently. I usually go once a month and really stock up on everything and then just buy odds and ends at the grocery store between times. As I was leaving, the guy who looks at the receipt and checks the cart said, "Dang! You must be feeding a herd of wild boars!" while looking me up and down. I told him, "Don't worry about it, slick, you're not a bag of bones yourself!" He looked so surprised and said "there is no need for you to be rude." I told him that maybe he would remember that the next time he decided to be a smartass and comment on someone's purchases and would do his job and mind his own business.

There was once a family friend who worked at Walmart. One day I went in for something or other and some smokes. She picked up my Marlboro and said "Cindy! I didn't know you smoked!"

Another time I was in there with a hot guy (before I met Nabo) and she kept looking at me, then him, and on and on and I could just see the gossip wheels turning in her head.

Then, haha, I was in there with another guy who wanted to put in his application, and I'll be damned if she didn't leave her register and run half way across the store to stick her nose in our business.

My sister finally fired her for stealing money out of a charity fund. Yes. What a gal.

When people stick their noses in my business I laugh in their face--if they're lucky. If they aren't, they wish to hell they had steered clear. I don't like to cause a scene, and usually don't, but you know how it is when something catches you off guard and off day. Actually there's just been one time I chewed somebody out in public and that was the manager of a mom and pop business where I had received poor service and he didn't give a fuck.

[endsleigh03]

http://chemistry.about.com/cs/5/f/blwaterintox.htm

I was just thinking last night that it might be how fast you drink liquids

Maybe it is from drinking too fast.

I just threw a link in the migraine thread about a possible connection between brain freeze from cold things and the ever-nasty migraine. Since mine have recently come back with a toilet-hugging-prayin-to-God-to-make-it-stop-FREIGHT-TRAIN-coming-down-the-track vengeance, I think....

The bottled water will stay on the counter at room temp for a half a glass, thus avoiding Wee for Wii AND what feels like 500 buffalo stampeding thru my head

[cindyt]

Maybe it is from drinking too fast.

I just threw a link in the migraine thread about a possible connection between brain freeze from cold things and the ever-nasty migraine. Since mine have recently come back with a toilet-hugging-prayin-to-God-to-make-it-stop-FREIGHT-TRAIN-coming-down-the-track vengeance, I think....

The bottled water will stay on the counter at room temp for a half a glass, thus avoiding Wee for Wii AND what feels like 500 buffalo stampeding thru my head

Yeah, I think you're onto something, Ends. I read about that years ago. I don't even like cold drinks, much less icy ones. Of course, I'm strange. Lol.

I've never had migraines but when was a kid and ate like two helpings of homemade fruit cobbler I'd get a roaring headache.