BREAKING NEWS: Richard Ramirez Dies: 6 Things To Know About California Serial Killer 'The Night Stalker' [VIDEO]
Soy sauce may be the secret to enjoying sushi and other Asian delicacies but it can also kill you. A young man nearly died after drinking a quart of soy sauce. After the soy sauce overdose, 19-year-old John Paul Boldrick went into coma due to an excess amount of salt in his body.
The soy sauce overdose case, reported in the Journal of Emergency Medicine, is the first known case where an individual intentionally overdosed on soy sauce with an excessive amount of sodium and survived without neurological problems. The young man reportedly took part in the soy sauce overdose after a dare from his fraternity brothers as part of an initiation ceremony at the University of Virginia.
The soy sauce overdose case raises awareness to the importance of regulating sodium intake, as too much salt in your blood can lead to a condition called hypernatremia. This is usually seen in individuals with psychiatric conditions that create a strong urge for the condiment, says Dr. David J. Carlberg, an emergency medicine physician at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. who treated the young man, to FOX News.
Soy sauce overdose induces hypernatremia, which is dangerous to an individual because it results in the brain losing water--too much salt in the bloodstream makes the water leave body tissues and enter the blood through osmosis. With water leaving the brain, it can cause the brain to shring and bleed.
RELATED: Cake Discrimination: Gay Couple David Mullins And Charlie Craig Denied Wedding Cake [VIDEO]
RELATED: Krusty Burger: Universal Studios Opens Real Restaurant From 'The Simpsons' Show [VIDEO & PHOTOS]
RELATED: McDonald's Subway Calories: How Subway Is Just As Bad For You
In the soy sauce overdose case, the young man began twitching and having seizures. His friends took him to the emergency room, where the hospital gave him anti-seizure medication. By the time he reached the hospital, he was already in a comatose state and remained in one for four hours.
"Peter Flynn, a 21-year-old fourth year student at UVA, is a brother at Zeta psi Fraternity and gave Sgt. Stuart (UVA Police) additional details about the incident. Mr. Flynn told Sgt. Stuart that fraternity members dared Mr. Boldrick to drink a whole bottle of soy sauce," stated the search warrants that looked into the fraternity. "After drinking the soy sauce, Mr. Boldrick was later found seizing upstairs in the fraternity house. Robert Laverty, a 21-year-old third year student at UVA, transported Mr. Boldrick to Martha Jefferson Hospital in his personal vehicle."
Dr.Calberg and his team attempted to remove the salt out of his system by giving him a solution of water and sugar dextrose through a nasal tube. Upon placing the nasal tube in place, streaks of brown material reportedly came out. They pumped 1.5 gallons of sugar water into his body to counteract the effects of the soy sauce overdose.
"He didn't respond to any of the stimuli that we gave him," Carlberg said regarding the soy sauce overdose. "He had some clonus, which is just elevated reflexes. It's a sign that basically the nervous system wasn't working very well."
The victim of the soy sauce overdose had normal sodium levels after five hours, but he remained in a coma for three days. After waking up, his hippocampus (a part of the brain) showed damage from the seizures induced by the soy sauce overdose but after a month, his body showed no sign of the damage.
Generally speaking, sodium overdose takes place slowly but in the case of the soy sauce overdose, the victim drank a large quantity. A typical quart of soy sauce has over 0.35 pounds of salt, according to the researchers.
© 2024 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
