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]
^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. PMID23735849.
^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. CiteSeerX10.1.1.1084.757. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2796.2004.01411.x. PMID15554954. S2CID20446209.