that's why Indians drink juices with salt and masala!

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The New York Times The New York Times Opinion

 

EDITORIAL

Brain-Dead From Sports Drinks

Published: April 14, 2005

 

 

 

For years now, we've been hearing about the importance of hydration to avoid

heat stroke during prolonged exercise in hot weather. Now, it turns out, too

much hydration can kill you.

 

A study published today in The New England Journal of Medicine should give

weekend warriors reason to rethink the wisdom of quaffing vast amounts of

water or sports drinks while exercising vigorously - at least if they are

engaging in such endurance tests as a marathon. The study found that a

marathon runner could dangerously dilute the blood with an overdose of

liquids, risking a coma and even death. The problem has also been detected

during long military maneuvers, extended bike rides and blistering hikes

through the desert.

 

An article by Gina Kolata in The Times today describes the slow and belated

recognition of the problem. A South African expert who has been warning of

the dangers for more than two decades told Ms. Kolata that he had not found

a single case when an athlete had died from dehydration in a competitive

race, but that some people had sickened and died from drinking too much.

Typically, an overdose of water dilutes their blood and reduces the

concentration of sodium. Water enters the cells, causing them to swell, and

engorged brain cells press into the skull; such pressure can lead to

confusion, seizures and a loss of vital functions.

 

All too often, friends, coaches or emergency personnel assume that the

problem is dehydration and administer yet more liquid, making the problem

worse. The best treatment is a small volume of a concentrated salt solution,

given intravenously, to increase blood sodium concentrations. Sports drinks

containing electrolytes may not help much as they are mostly liquid

themselves.

 

In the 2002 Boston Marathon, for example, a 28-year-old woman found herself

exhausted after running for five hours and gulping sports drinks along the

way. Wrongly assuming that she was dehydrated, she chugged down 16 more

ounces of a sports drink. She promptly collapsed and was later declared

brain-dead. The concentration of salt in her blood was found to be lethally

low.

 

In the study published today, researchers at various Harvard-affiliated

institutions tested 488 of the nearly 15,000 runners who completed the 2002

Boston Marathon. They found that 13 percent had blood with abnormally low

sodium levels, and that three runners were in danger of dying. It was not

the elite runners who were at risk - it was those who had taken four hours

or more to finish the race, allowing plenty of time to imbibe excess fluid.

 

Sports authorities have already issued warnings and tips to avoid excessive

drinking, and rescue workers in the Grand Canyon now carry devices to test

collapsed hikers for low blood sodium. But the solution is for overly eager

endurance runners and hikers to forget the old mantra that they should

drink-drink-drink. Too much liquid can be lethal.