Swedish woman allowed to seek treatment for Coke addiction

A Swedish court has ruled that a woman be allowed to seek treatment for her addiction to Coca Cola. For years, the woman from Malmö in southern Sweden has struggled to control her urge to consume large quantities of the popular soft drink and other foods.

Her eating habits have given her a range of health problems, resulting in emergency hospitalization for diabetes and high blood pressure.

Deaf since childhood, the woman claims that her food addiction is a side-effect of her handicap. She’s been fighting with public authorities in Sweden to gain access to special treatment to help her with her condition.



While local health authorities as well as the Administrative Court (Länsrätten) agreed that the woman had serious health issues, both previously ruled that remedies available through standard healthcare were sufficient for treating the woman’s Coke addiction.

According to the Administrative Court of Appeal (Kammarrätten), however, the woman’s lifestyle is a threat to her health.

Therefore, it has ordered the woman be allowed to check in to a special addiction treatment clinic for the deaf, which it sees as perhaps the only way for the woman to drop her food addiction.