A case study presented at European Society of Cardiology’s Europace 2013 meeting in Athens, Greece analyzed the event. “This is an exceptional case of consumption, but it’s not the first case reported of extreme potassium loss due to large amounts of cola intake,” says case study author Nadir Saoudi, MD, professor of cardiology and the chief of the cardiology section at the Princess Grace Medical Centre in Monaco. Although it isn’t clear exactly how extreme cola consumption drains potassium, Saoudi believes the sweetener in the cola is at least partially to blame, while other medical experts also point to caffeine as a likely suspect. “Fructose stays in the gut and draws water into the gut, and causes diarrhea, which takes potassium out with it,” says Pamela Ouyang, MD, director of the Johns Hopkins Women’s Cardiovascular Center. Excess caffeine sets off a similar chain of events in the body, if the dose is so large that the body can’t absorb it and flushes it (and key nutrients) from the body. Although cola is the common offender in recent soda-induced potassium deficiency cases, Ouyang says the common triggers of potassium deficiency are medications like diuretics, which are often used to treat high blood pressure, or any other situation that leads to chronic diarrhea. Ouyang warns that women may be particularly at risk for heart issues stemming from potassium loss. Women tend to have longer intervals between waves in the heartbeat’s cycle than men do, since testosterone speeds it up. “The longer the [interval between waves], the longer the more likely you are to have arrhythmias. The woman in Monaco had a happy ending—her potassium levels and heart’s electrical activity returned to normal after a week of cola-free recovery in the hospital, where she was loaded with intravenous potassium. Although Saoudi says life-threateningly low potassium levels are easily reversible, Ouyang made it clear that it’s still serious. “Very low potassium and arrhythmias can definitely be a fatal condition, especially if someone has underlying cardiac problems” Ouyang says. While the average woman has little to worry about, this cautionary tale is a timely reminder that quenching your thirst with water is better for your health than cooling off with a second cola in the summer heat.
