14 DAY TRIAL // Jakki Ballan, a 42-year-old English woman, drinks about ten liters of Diet Coke a day and so far has spent almost £150,000 ($249,660 / €181,650) on the beverage.
The woman started drinking Diet Coke at the age of 14 and, currently, she finishes up to 50 soda cans per day, which means that she consumes three every hour. As a result of her addiction, Jakki has suffered hallucinations and she even panics if she doesn't have enough supply.
Her 30-year addiction began to worsen when she left her full-time job in order to take care of her five children, up to the point that this dependence was costing her around £500 ($824 / €600) per month.
The woman, who lives in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, acknowledges that her addiction has become too severe. She is currently under medical treatment and has hypnotherapy sessions to help her overcome this Coke dependence.
“This addiction is taking over my life. I can't even go out of the house without making sure I've got enough Coke on me. I won't do the school run unless I have at least two 500ml bottles in my handbag,” confesses Jakki, according to Daily Mail.
“I see strange things like oranges flying across the room. I dread to think what my insides look like,” she adds.
All addictions are bad, but for Jakki, hers is the most difficult of all. “Alcoholics get help, people addicted to cigarettes get patches and drug addicts get weaned off slowly, but this is a real addiction and no one will help me,” she says.
According to Dr. Sarah Schenker, who works as a dietician for the British Dietetic Association, fizzy drinks contain phosphorus, which can be very harmful for the bones if consumed in large quantities. But what worries her the most is the fact that by drinking so much soda, Jakki doesn't have a healthy and balanced diet.