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"  I must say, even though kombucha and coconut water are the &amp;quot;cool&amp;quot; drinks these days \u2014 compounded by all of the studies that have been comparing soda to noxious, teeth-rotting lighter fluid \u2014 the decline of Diet Coke is breaking my heart. I&amp;#039;ve been addicted to the stuff since chugging it at 4 AM to finish term papers in college and for extra bursts of energy during the 3 PM office slump. But it&amp;#039;s becoming clearer and clearer that the cons outweigh the pros. According to LiveScience, a 31-year-old woman from the south of France (of all places!) was brought to the hospital for fainting and later diagnosed with an erratic heartbeat caused by low amounts of potassium, even though none of these were inherited genetically. She stopped drinking soda for one week and the symptoms vanished. The woman admitted that she had been drinking 2 quarts of soda a day since she was 15 instead of water. Which is a pretty good way not to live. You may as well be on My Strange Addiction at that point, right after the girl who eats the stuffing in her couch cushions. And it&amp;#039;s not just full-sugar Coke that damages your health: In May, it was found that consuming Diet Coke for a prolonged period of time gives you meth mouth, e.g. this grossness:  It can also cause depression and lower alcohol tolerance when used in a mixed drink. (Ironically, the full-fat, full-sugar Mexican Cokes available at most bodegas are the best cure for hangovers out there. You heard it from me.) One of the researchers on the 31-year-old woman&amp;#039;s case says: &amp;quot;One of the take-home messages is that cardiologists need to be aware of the connection between cola consumption and potassium loss, and should ask patients found to have QT prolongation [in layman&amp;#039;s terms: erratic heartbeats] about beverage habits.&amp;quot; Follow Anna on Twitter. Images via Academy of General Dentistry and Getty Images "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/health-fitness/news/a13606/soda-lethal-new-study/>