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too much water... too little salt Overdosing on water while cutting back on vital salt could cost you your health and even your life. The dangers have been highlighted by the case of a woman who suffered brain damage after following a low-salt diet. Dawn Page (pictured right with husband Geoff) from Faringdon in Oxfordshire has been awarded more than £800,000 damages in an out-of-court settlement after following a diet in which she increased her water intake and decreased her salt consumption. Following the case, the safety of such detox diets is being increasingly called into question. (See Daily Mail coverage) (See Guardian coverage) In another case, an inquest heard that a man died after overloading his body by drinking ten litres of water in eight hours. The resulting dilution of salt reserves led to swelling in the brain. Now, the Salt Association is warning that many people may be putting their lives at risk because of the Government’s drive to demonise salt. Dr Sandy Macnair, Medical Adviser to the Salt Association, said: “Sodium is very near the top of the list of essential nutrients and the body requires a substantial reserve against a sudden heat wave or unaccustomed exertion or in women, a new pregnancy. There is no problem with getting rid of an excess of salt – the body can handle 10 times its usual intake effortlessly but it struggles to save sodium when the supply is suddenly cut short. “The real danger is in taking on board an excess of water when sodium reserves are depleted - this dilutes the sodium in body water and causes the brain to absorb water. The skull is a closed box and brain swelling leads inevitably to brain damage. With an adequate reserve of salt on board, four pints of water a day is no big deal – ask any beer drinker.” A low concentration of sodium in the blood is defined as hyponatraemia, a condition which can cause nausea, extreme fatigue, breathing difficulties, dizziness and coma or ultimately brain damage and death. It is on the increase – figures of hospital admissions in England for 2006 to 2007 show that there were a staggering 5,259 admissions relating to hyponatraemia or hypo-osmolality, both conditions of sodium depletion resulting from an inadequate intake of sodium to replace losses from the body – that’s a 23% increase from 2005 to 2006. The Salt Association’s general secretary, Peter Sherratt, said: “We are told that drinking more water is important but upsetting the balance of nutrients in your body can be dangerous. Experts are increasingly concerned that the Food Standards Agency’s ‘one size fits all’ advice on salt intake brings no benefit to the general population and may even put some lives at risk. “We each have a cupful of salt in our bodies at any time and it is doing a vital job in keeping us alive. The sodium it contains is an electrolyte that helps maintain the fluid balance in our blood cells and transmits electrical impulses between our brain, nerves and muscles.” He added: “There is a danger that in issuing widely disputed blanket advice to cut back on salt, the Government is failing to make people aware that it is also a product that keeps us alive.”
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