Coca-Cola habit a factor in New Zealander's death

WELLINGTON (AFP) - A New Zealand woman's 10-litre a day Coca-Cola habit was a major factor in her death, a coroner found on Tuesday, urging the soft-drink giant to put health warnings on its caffeinated products.

Ms Natasha Harris, a 30-year-old mother of eight from Invercargill in southern New Zealand, drank huge amounts of the fizzy beverage for years before her death in February 2010, according to coroner David Crerar.

He said Ms Harris suffered from a number of health conditions linked to the "extreme" amounts of Coke she downed, playing a role in the cardiac arrhythmia that finally killed her.

"I find that when all 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," he found.