Soy Sauce Overdose: Excess of Salt in Body Caused Seizures and Coma

When it comes to adding condiments, it may not seem like you can ever go too far. However, for one young man in particular, he drank so much soy sauce that he actually went into a coma and nearly died from the excess of salt found in his body.

A19-year-old drank a heavy amount of soy sauce on a dare, according to health officials, and caught hypernatremia , also known as too much salt in the blood. Hypernatremia is usually seen in people with psychiatric conditions who develop a strong appetite for the condiment, according to Dr. David J. Carlberg, via Fox News, who treated the teenager as an emergency medicine physician at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.

This health issue can be particularly dangerous as it can cause the brain to lose water. When there is too much salt in the bloodstream, water moves out of the body tissues and into the blood by process of osmosis. It then tries to equalize the salt concentration between the two areas, and as water tries to leave the brain, the organ may shrink and even possibly bleed, according to Carlberg.

Carlberg also notes that the young man began twitching and having seizures following the intake of the soy sauce, which prompted his emergency room visit.

"He didn'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 sign that basically the nervous system wasn't working very well."

Various reports show that his system was flushed with a water and sugar solution to cleanse out the salt through a nasal tube. Approximately 1.5 gallons of sugar water was pumped into his body within a half hour period, at which, shortly after, his sodium levels returned to a normal period.

He remained in a coma for three days, but woke up on his own.

Carlberg notes that the hippocampus in his brain showed seizure activity for a several days following the incident. However, a month after, no signs were evident.

A typical quart of soy sauce has more than 0.35 pounds (0.16 kilograms) of salt, the researchers said.

Most cases of sodium overdose happen more gradually.  Researchers note that in the 1960s and 1970s, doctors actually gave salt to patients suffering from poisoning, to initiate vomiting, until they realized its harmful effects.

Carlberg said he believes the young man survived because the team got his sodium levels down so quickly.

"We were more aggressive than had been reported before in terms of bringing his sodium back down to a safer range," Carlberg said. 

The case report was published online June 4 in the Journal of Emergency Medicine.