"It's Just a Soft Drink."

Correlation ain't the same as causation, but I can't really blame folks for thinking that drinking two gallons of Coke each day had a little something to do with 30-year-old Natasha Marie Harris's heart attack death.

Harris' partner, Chris Hodgkinson, testified at the inquest that Harris drank between 8 and 10 liters -- 2.1 and 2.6 gallons -- of regular Coke every day, according to the Associated Press. 

"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," Hodgkinson said. "She was addicted to Coke." 

Harris reportedly had some other unhealthy habits. Hodgkinson said she ate little and smoked about 30 cigarettes a day. In the months before her death, she experienced blood pressure problems and lacked energy, he said.

A pathologist testified that Harris's death was caused in part by severe hypokalemia -- a lack of potassium in the blood.

Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency medicine physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, told HealthPop that drinking too much soda can cause hypokalemia because of several factors, one of which is called "fructose induced osmotic diarrhea." Too much fructose and sugar may lead to diarrhea and during diarrhea the body loses potassium. 

What's more, Glatter said, sugar stimulates insulin release which also drives potassium into the body's cells, causing potassium levels in the bloodstream to fall. Then there's the caffeine, which is known as a "beta-agonist," that also drives potassium into cells and away from the blood. 

"So you're getting a double whammy from caffeine as well as the sugar," Glatter told HealthPop. "You're drinking three to nine liters a day of this stuff, you're going to have significant issues." 

"I never thought about it," Hodgskinson told the Herald of soda making Harris ill. "It's just a soft-drink, just like drinking water.

Not quite. Pro tip: You know what's just like drinking water? DRINKING WATER.

[Source]

Soda & Meat

An "unusual" flavor indeed.

On second thought, I guess I shouldn't knock it 'til I try it. After all, my mom braised some pork belly in Coca-Cola last year, and it actually turned out pretty good.

Plus, any recipe that starts with the words "GASH FAT" is okay in my book.

(Source: The Gallery of Regrettable Food)

Link Dump: Lunchtime Edition

• The latest version of the ever-unhelpful USDA Dietary Guidelines (“just eat less!”) are out. Once again, they’re dumb. Once again, Guidelines demonize saturated fat and sodium, but seem to have no problem with carbs despite the USDA's own acknowledgment that Americans are stuffing themselves silly with the stuff.

• (Psst: Saturated fat ain't the enemy. Get yourself a tub of coconut oil and see.)

• But no one pays any attention to the Dietary Guidelines, anyway.

• We ‘muricuns prefer to get our dietary advice from people like Pepsico's CEO, who announced today that "Doritos are not bad for you" and cola must be healthy because it was "discovered in a pharmacy."So true!

• But just Doritos and Pepsi make a great lunch combo doesn’t mean you should break into vending machines. Thankfully, technology firms are already investing resources into safeguarding our nation's most precious natural resources: Funyons and Dr. Pepper.

• So if you don't have enough change jangling around in your pocket, skip the vending machine and go get yourself some ice cream nachos and/or ice cream bread.

• (On second thought, please don’t.)

• Speaking of ice cream bread, the Latest in Paleo podcast just launched. Subscribe already.

Okay. I'm off to get me a big grass-fed burger patty topped with ham, bacon, and a fried egg.

Gary Busey: Fantasy Lawyer

Last month, a federal district court judge ruled that the Center for Science in the Public Interest could continue its lawsuit against Coca-Cola for misleading consumers about Vitaminwater's (lack of) health benefits. The judge pointed out that Vitaminwater is basically just a sugary, non-carbonated soft drink fortified with a few vitamins for marketing purposes.

In a strongly worded 55-page opinion, Judge John Gleeson of the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn said the health claims on some Vitaminwater bottles may be in violation of FDA regulations since the drink "achieves its nutritional content solely through fortification that violates FDA policy." The judge thinks Coke could be violating the so-called jellybean rule, which says that a food- or drinkmaker cannot load otherwise unhealthy products with vitamins or other nutrients in order to claim it is healthy. A sugar product is a sugar product: you can't say a jellybean fights heart disease because it contains no cholesterol.

It's a little weird (but kind of awesome), then, to see that Vitaminwater's new pitchman is a bug-eyed Gary Busey -- not exactly the model of health -- who practices "fantasy law" by physically assaulting people.