Salt poisoning

Salt poisoning
Other namesSodium poisoning
High resolution image of a grain of sea salt. Sea salt is one of the most common causes of sodium poisoning.

Salt poisoning is an intoxication resulting from the excessive intake of sodium (usually as sodium chloride) in either solid form or in solution (saline water, including brine, brackish water, or seawater). Salt poisoning sufficient to produce severe symptoms is rare, and lethal salt poisoning is possible but even rarer. The lethal dose of table salt is roughly 0.5–1 gram per kilogram of body weight.[1]

In medicine, the circumstance of salt poisoning is most frequently encountered in children or infants[2][3] who may be made to consume excessive amounts of table salt. At least one instance of murder of a hospitalized child by salt poisoning has been reported.[4]

Too much salt intake in adults can also occur from the drinking of seawater, pickled goods, brine water or the drinking of soy sauce.[5] Salt poisoning has also been seen in a number of adults with mental health problems.[6]

Salt poisoning can affect most species of animals, although it is more common in swine, cattle, and poultry.[7]

  1. ^ Strazzullo, Pasquale; Leclercq, Catherine (1 March 2014). "Sodium". Advances in Nutrition. 5 (2): 188–190. doi:10.3945/an.113.005215. PMC 3951800. PMID 24618759.
  2. ^ Saunders, N.; Balfe, J. W.; Laski, B. (1976). "Severe salt poisoning in an infant". J. Pediatr. 88 (2): 258–61. doi:10.1016/s0022-3476(76)80992-4. PMID 1249688.
  3. ^ Paut, O.; Andre, N.; Fabre, P.; Sobraquas, P.; Drouet, G.; Arditti, J.; Camboulives, J. (March 1999). "The management of extreme hypernatraemia secondary to salt poisoning in an infant". Pediatric Anesthesia. 9 (2): 171–174. doi:10.1046/j.1460-9592.1999.9220325.x. PMID 10189662. S2CID 3212802.
  4. ^ Roberts, Troy (17 September 2017). "A Mother Accused". CBS News.
  5. ^ Carlberg, David J.; Borek, Heather A.; Syverud, Scott A.; Holstege, Christopher P. (August 2013). "Survival of Acute Hypernatremia Due to Massive Soy Sauce Ingestion". The Journal of Emergency Medicine. 45 (2): 228–231. doi:10.1016/j.jemermed.2012.11.109. PMID 23735849.
  6. ^ Ofran, Y.; Lavi, D.; Opher, D.; Weiss, T. A.; Elinav, E. (December 2004). "Fatal voluntary salt intake resulting in the highest ever documented sodium plasma level in adults (255 mmol L-1): a disorder linked to female gender and psychiatric disorders". Journal of Internal Medicine. 256 (6): 525–528. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.1084.757. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2796.2004.01411.x. PMID 15554954. S2CID 20446209.
  7. ^ Larry J. Thompson. "Salt Toxicity". Kenilworth, NJ, USA: Merck & Co.