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A vernal humans who drank a quart of soy sauce become into a coma and well-nigh go from an nimiety of table salt in his eubstance , according to a late case report .
The 19 - class - honest-to-goodness , who drink the soy sauce after being dared by friend , is the first person known to have deliberately o.d. on such a eminent amount of salt and survived with no hold out neurological problems , according to the MD in Virginia who report his case . The case report was published online June 4 in the Journal of Emergency Medicine .
Soy sauce is tasty, but incredibly high in sodium, which can be deadly at high levels.
Too much Strategic Arms Limitation Talks in the blood , a status called hypernatremia , is usually seen in masses with psychiatrical conditions who develop a strong appetency for the condiment , said Dr. David J. Carlberg , who cover the young valet and put to work as an pinch medical specialty physician at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington , D.C.
Hypernatremia is dangerous because it causes the brain to lose water . When there istoo much saltin the bloodstream , water moves out of the body tissues and into the blood by the cognitive process of osmosis , to attempt to equalize the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks concentration between the two . As piss the leave the genius , the organ can quail and bleed , Carlberg order .
After the adult male pledge the soy sauce , he begin twitching and having seizures , and the friends took him to an emergency brake room . That infirmary administered anti - seizure medication , and he was alreadyin a comawhen he was study to the hospital where Carlberg was working , the University of Virginia Medical Center , almost four hours after the event .
" He did n’t respond to any of the stimuli that we gave him , " Carlberg said . " He had some clonus , which is just elevated reflexes . It ’s a house that basically the nervous system was n’t working very well . "
The squad immediately get flushing the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks out of his arrangement by administering a solution of water and the scratch dextrose through a nasal subway . When they placed the tube-shaped structure , streak of brown material came out . Within a half hr , they pump 1.5 gallons ( 6 liters ) of sugar piddle into the serviceman ’s body .
The humankind ’s sodium levels returned to normal after about five hour . He remained in a coma for three days , but woke up on his own .
For several days afterward , a part of his brain called the genus Hippocampus show residuary effects from the seizures . But a calendar month after the upshot , he record no preindication of theoverdose : He was back at college , and doing well on his exam , doctors reported .
A distinctive dry quart of soy sauce has more than 0.35 pounds ( 0.16 kilograms ) of saltiness , the researchers said .
Most cases of sodium overdose happen more bit by bit . In the sixties and seventies , medico actually gave saltiness to patient role suffering from intoxication , to initiate vomiting , until they make its harmful effects .
Though it ’s uncommon in the United States , eat excess salt was a traditional method forsuicidein ancientChina , according to the face report .
Carlberg say he believes the new man survived because the squad got his atomic number 11 levels down so quickly .
" We were more strong-growing than had been reported before in terms of bringing his atomic number 11 back down to a safer compass , " Carlberg separate LiveScience . cut down sodium levels more tardily has had poor or mixed answer in the past , he said .
