We can help you claim
compensation following an accident
illness or injury - nationwide
Call: 0800 10 757 95
Some nights, I don't know why, I wake up inexplicably craving a cool glass of cola. Invariably I then remember an overweight and dentally damaged former colleague who claimed to be addicted to cola and the craving subsides. Poor old Rufus, while it was clear that he was drinking too much of the stuff, he just could never seem to shake his five-year-old habit and in the end simply resorted to making jokes about making a "no win, no fee cola compensation claim" for the damage he had suffered to his health.
These days an increasing level of press is being given over to the possible physical dependence caused by the caffeine content in many cola products.
Just a quick google of the phrase "cola addiction" reveals that there are at the very least thousands of people out there who profess to being addicted to cola. And, just as with my former colleague, these people admit to drinking as many as ten litres a day of the stuff.
Then, just this week, Australian press carried the story of an ostrich farmer who suffered lung paralysis as a result of drinking between 4 and 10 litres of cola a day. Although, after going cold turkey on his cola consumption, the farmer made a complete recovery, the doctors who treated him advised others that drinking too much cola could lead to similar health problems.
In fact, another recent case helps illustrate that such cola-health related problems are far more common than generally thought. A pregnant woman in the United States recently had to be hospitalised with multiple symptoms, including low blood potassium levels, all brought on by excessive consumption of cola.
A specialist doctor from the United States commented on the pregnant woman's case, "We have every reason to think that it is not rare.
"With aggressive mass marketing, super-sizing of soft drinks, and the effects of caffeine tolerance and dependence, there is very little doubt that tens of millions of people in industrialised countries drink at least 2-3 litres of cola per day.
"It follows that the serum potassium levels of these heavy cola drinkers are dropping, in some cases, to dangerous low levels."
And, then of course there is the problem of obesity. Perhaps, for those who consume cola in moderation these are only small risks - certainly not the kind ever likely to become the focus of a no win, no fee claim - but, with Science Daily reporting that "soda and sweetened drinks are the main source of calories in the American diet" it is clear that cola may represent a serious threat to the health systems of many countries.
Then there are other problems: tooth decay caused by the high acidity of cola; an apparent link between cola consumption and osteoporosis in women; and a possible link between cola and hypokalaemia.
As yet, no no win, no fee claims have been made against cola companies for any of the above conditions, although, coincidentally, the first ever product liability claim made in the UK concerned a bottle of contaminated soft drink. Now, if only I could stop those nighttime cravings…
