"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]

Tweet Tweet

Like just about everyone else at our tech-immersed box, I've become a big fan of Twitter -- though I’d be the first to admit that I should have jumped on the bandwagon sooner. If nothing else, Twitter serves as an incredible news reader. By following the folks who share links to topics of interest to me -- including CrossFit, Paleo nutrition, minimalist footwear, etc. -- I end up with a nicely-curated selection of reading materials, videos and photos. I can also follow specific lists (say, of CrossFit Palo Alto members) or take advantage of Twitter feed aggregators like CrossTwits.

Best of all: With a 140-character limit per tweet, people on Twitter are forced to GET TO THE POINT ALREADY.

Here are just a few random items that popped up on my Twitter feed today:

• What's the connection between wheat and schizophrenia?
• Fatigued from exercising? It's all in your head.
• Steve Nash and Grant Hill appear to be eating Paleo.
• The best thing you can do with McDonald’s French fries? Sculpt a big-ass skull.
• Some guy’s body literally fused into his chair after staying seated for two years.
• Perez Hilton’s take on the Paleo diet is boring and wrong.
• Failure can be a good thing.
• I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson's workout is ridonkulous (and hazardous to your health).
• Holy crap -- two brothers (both U.S. Marines) busted out over 15 rounds (!) of Games Open WOD 11.2!
• The advice to “drink 8 glasses of water a day” has no scientific basis, so give your bladder a break.
• And while we're on that topic, I have a feeling my pee is going to smell funny for the next month.

If you're not already on Twitter, get on it. (And while you’re at it, follow me, dammit.)

I Love Meat, But...

...beef jerky-flavored MeatWater kind of makes me want to throw up in my mouth.

Still, a beverage that tastes like a cheeseburger would probably pair nicely with, say, a cheeseburger.

Pam the Blam sent me a link to this article about MeatWater's new "line" of diet drinks ("MeatWater VOID"), and I have to confess that the poached salmon salad flavor looks particularly intriguing.



But before you get too excited about the prospect of drinking Caribbean shrimp salad water, please note that MeatWater doesn't actually exist. (Which, strangely enough, kind of bums me out.)

[Source]

Link Dump

Time for a dump:

• Dove, take note: Plus size models make women feel bad about themselves.

• To all compulsive bodybuilders: Do you have muscular dysmorphic disorder?

• According to the U.S.D.A., Americans' eating habits have changed quite a bit over the past 100 years.

• But are the U.S.D.A.'s guidelines trustworthy (or even understandable) in the first place?

• Does your baby need to lose some weight?

• If a blind guy can train twice a day to complete a full Ironman triathlon, you and I have no excuses.

• We've already learned that Fiji Water is evil, but unless you happen to be in a place where tap water is truly non-potable, don't waste your hard-earned dollars on any brand of bottled water: