The danger of too much salt in the blood was highlighted recently when a man drinking a quart of soy sauce on a dare went into a coma and nearly died, Live Science said in an online article.
The original information appeared in a report published online June 4 in the Journal of Emergency Medicine, the Live Science article said.
Too much salt in the blood, a condition called hypernatremia, is usually seen in people with psychiatric conditions who develop a strong appetite for the condiment, said Dr. David J. Carlberg, who treated the young man and works as an emergency medicine physician at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.
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The case, which did not give a date of the incident, involved a 19-year-old who drank the soy sauce on a bet with friends. He is the first person known to have deliberately overdosed on such a high amount of salt and survived with no lasting neurological problems, according to the doctors in Virginia who reported his case.
The report said the man received six liters of water over 30 minutes intravenously, rapidly diluting the sodium intake. The report said such an intake of sodium, though rare, is often fatal.
Soy sauce, which is made from soybeans, has been used as a food for the Chinese for at least 2,000 years.
Nutritionally, soybeans provide a healthy and inexpensive source of protein – two pounds of soy flour contains approximately the same amount of protein as five pounds of meat.
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Properly prepared soy sauce is made from soybeans that are mixed with roasted grain (usually wheat, rice, or barley) and fermented for several months.
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