Mother of 3 dies from drinking water in a Wii contest

True that alcohol is a poison and therefore causes some other problems as well...
but drinking heavy quantities of beer (alcohol) also causes the same problem as drinking heavy quantities of water. Both beer and water are hypotonic (low sodium) solutions and therefore the result is the same. In the medical profession it is referred to as "beer potomania" and happens frequently.

 

I didn't know that drinking too much water could kill you (well, except for drowning ) until about 4 years ago. Somehow I never learned that even though my degrees are in biology and biochemistry.

 

I don't think it has anything to do with the educational system. Its just common sense that if you ingest anything in too great of quantities, something bad will generally happen.

 

So you get a double whammy with beer? Great.

I was thinking more of the hard stuff. I assume the alcohol would get you before it would dilute sodium enough to be a concern. EVen with beer though, isn't beer potomania generally associated with long term use is lieu of a decent diet? Or can the hypotonic effect of beer actually kick-in in one sitting before the alcohol hammers you?

 

Uh.. well the contest was "Hold Your Wee for a Wii"

 

Well...who won the wii?