kumar said:"The truth is, too much water and not enough salt can kill you. Most
people know that dehydration can cause serious health consequences.
What most don't realize is that too much of a good thing - WATER
- can also be dangerous, even deadly.
Too much of anything can kill you.
Quoted message said:They call it WATER INTOXICATION or more technically HYPONATREMIA.
It's really, REALLY hard to produce hyponatremia in a healthy
individual who is not under any physiological stress. You'd get sick
of drinking water long before the hyponatremia develops.
People with psychogenic polydipsia (usually associated with psychosis)
occasionally manage to drink enough water to become intoxicated, but
this means gallons, not a few extra glasses of water.
Normal people never have to worry about hyponatremia.
There are situations in which people who have exerted themselves for a
very long time in hot weather suddenly decide to drink a great deal of
water to satisfy thirst after several hours, and occasionally they
develop hyponatremia. This happens because they've lost electrolytes
and they take on hypotonic (non-salty) water faster than their kidneys
can restore balance, so sodium levels drop too low (hyponatremia).
Even this is very rare, though.
Salt is a bit of a different story. It's never a good idea to consume
a large amount of salt; in fact, a few tablespoons can be fatal to an
adult if consumed all at once. Fortunately, that doesn't normally
happen accidentally. Here again, the kidneys can deal with a very
wide range of salt intakes, but very sudden salt loads may be enough
to cause a problem (hypernatremia, in this case). I'm not sure why
anyone would be gulping salt, though.
Quoted message said:The above link tells about water intoxication--Hyponatremia. It can
cause many problems esp. increase in cell volume. I think it may effect
other minerals related to or dependent on Sodium level--K, Ca, Mg, P .
Low sodium may be related to acid/base water level. But I am esp.
looking for its effect on fats storage. What excess water intake will
cause to glucose and fats levels?
Water intoxication and (often) hyponatremia are medical emergencies,
and one doesn't worry about their long-term effects, but instead about
resolving the immediate imbalance.
Quoted message said:Can water intoxication cause edema due to increase in cell volum
or decreased filteration in kidneys due this this cell volume increase?
If you mean long-term edema, see above.
Quoted message said:Whether excess urine excretion increases or lowers the glucose level
in healthy or diabetic person?
If the blood glucose level is normal, the kidneys do not excrete any
significant amount of glucose, irrespective of the total volume of
urine produced. In a person with hyperglycemia (such as an
uncontrolled diabetic), the kidneys may dump glucose if it passes a
certain (high) level. Mild hyperglycemia may not produce any
glucosuria.
Diseased kidneys may dump all sorts of stuff that they should retain,
including glucose. Some people have low renal thresholds for glucose
and dump it into urine at much lower blood glucose levels than a
normal person would.
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