Drinking too much water endangers body's salt levels

Jerusalem Post ^ | Jul. 18, 2003 | CELIA HALL, DAILY TELEGRAPH

[yonif]

Athletes and sportsmen are warned today against drinking too much water to replace lost fluid, because it could kill them.

Current advice is based on assumptions not backed by medical evidence, according to Dr Timothy Noakes, professor of exercise and sports science at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Prof Noakes says the advice that athletes should replace all the liquid they lose through sweating while exercising, either by drinking as much as they can tolerate or something between one and two pints, may be dangerous.

In a paper for the British Medical Journal, he writes that there have been seven recorded deaths and 250 cases of hyponatraemic encephalopathy in athletes, soldiers and hikers who were advised to drink as much as possible. This is a potentially fatal condition caused by a severe lack of salt in the blood due to excessive drinking.

Prof Noakes says the athlete at most risk is the female marathon runner who completes 27-mile races at less than five miles an hour and who drinks excessively - as much as 28 pints - in exercise lasting between five and six hours.

He says that more than 30 years ago an article was published on the dangers of dehydration in athletes, prompting "numerous studies, many funded by the fledgling sports drinks industry, culminating in specific guidelines for ingestion of fluids during exercise".

Prof Noakes believes the best advice is that "drinking in accordance to the personal dictates of thirst seems to be safe and effective". That level of intake is typically three quarters of a pint to a pint and a half per hour, he says.

[lelio]

This is a potentially fatal condition caused by a severe lack of salt in the blood due to excessive drinking.

Then put a pinch of salt into your water bottle. This isn't rocket science.

[Mr. Bird]

The NFL has picked up on a rather mundane solution to dehydration problems in summer camp. I myself discovered it several years ago as a nearly flawless hangover preventative: pickle juice.

A few dixie cups of this elixir will keep your body salt level adequate and help you retain water. I highly recommend it before hitting the sack after a long night of drinking. If you don't want to drink the juice, just eat a few whole dills.

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[Thane_Banquo]

I believe it was Duce Staley of the Philadelphia Eagles who made waves by saying he drank pickle juice before a game. This study may support his habit.

[hobbes1]

And it tastes delicious......

[NYFriend]

Good tip...I guess. I give it a try this weekend.

[FourPeas]

Fascinating. Mr. FourPeas and both my boys *love* pickle juice. They like it for a special snack after we finish off a pickle jar.

[Dante3]

Dr. Merkin wrote forget the advice of having to drink 8 glasses of water. He claimed that all it did was make go more frequently to the bathroom.

[Old Professer]

That works out to one 12 ounce bottle of beer per hour, just right.

[FourPeas]

It may not be rocket science, but it is common sense. In the 60's when my father was working outdoors in Oklahoma, salt tablets were the norm. Part of it was to encourage water intake, but part of it was the realization that sweat is salty. Simple replentishment.

[Trailerpark Badass]

What about Gatorade? Doesn't it have a lot of salt?

[Think free or die]

I remember those salt tablets. Whenever we had a hike from our Girl Scout camp, we were given salt tablets first, and a cool drink when we reached our destination. That was long before people walked around with water bottles seemingly attached to the ends of their arms.

[Monty22]

Hopefully those salt tablets had iodine in them. That's another really good mineral that people tend to not get enough of.. Thyroid problems aplenty..

Also it'll help you if you're downwind from a nuclear accident/explosion.. The radioactive iodine won't flood your thyroid if it's already full of the good kind.

[nothingnew]

I don't drink water...fish fuc pro-create in it.

FMCDH

[bmwcyle]

No more water for you.

[BluH2o]

... there have been seven recorded deaths and 250 cases of hyponatraemic encephalopathy in athletes, soldiers and hikers who were advised to drink as much as possible.

Marine recruits undergoing basic training at Parris Island, SC during the warm weather months are encouraged to drink a great deal of water ... and some have died as a result. Back in the "old Corps" we were issued salt pills that we were required to take, usually after lunch, as I recall.
Times change ... for the better? Hard to say ...

[CyberCowboy777]

I drink between 80 and 100 oz in a normal day at the office. This is of course not including the 4 to 8 cups of coffee. I drink another 40 to 60 oz after I get home.

I drink allot more when I quit smoking.

I do not drink but 1 or 2 soda's a week, though I enjoy Sobe's, Ice tea and fruit juices a little more often.
In the evening I often drink 40 to 60 oz of apple, purple and white grape juice and V8. On the weekend it is two or three beers a day.

I figure I get my salt from food and the 'other' beverages and I exercise little outside working on my land and playing hard.

[ravingnutter]

My husband drinks pickle juice, he will get mad if I throw the empty pickle jar away with the juice still in it. He also puts jalapeno juice on his food...yuk.

[Thane_Banquo]

Jalapeno juice. I'll have to try that. Sounds delicious.