Did You Know Excessive Soy Sauce Can Increase The Sodium Levels In Your Body?

Don’t we all love having that tangy and spicy black coloured soy sauce with our Chinese food? Soy sauce is widely popular and is frequently consumed with Chinese and Japanese dishes like noodles, rice, sushi and more. Soy sauce is also added as a major ingredient to American, Spanish, Mediterranean and Italian cuisines. However, no matter how exciting the sauce can make our food, it has an adverse effect on the human body, sometimes leading to severe consequences.

A horrific incident happened in 2013 in the USA, where a 19-year-old boy consumed excessive soy sauce and ended up being in a coma for three days. According to a report published online by the Journal of Emergency Medicine, excessive consumption of soy sauce can impact the human body and turn into a nightmare for people.

The report found that a 19-year-old boy in the USA guzzled up a lot of soy sauce just to get an invitation to a university frat house party. The case report found that the boy started experiencing major seizures and foaming at the mouth after he drank a lot of soy sauce. He was rushed to the hospital and the doctors revealed that he started grinding his teeth incessantly and became unresponsive. They also revealed that his hands became stiff and eventually he fell into a coma.

The medical reports found that Dr David J Carlberg was working with the patient. He revealed that the patient’s basic nervous system stopped working after consuming an excessive amount of soy sauce. The report found that the boy’s blood sodium levels were the highest ever recorded in an adult who somehow survived hypernatremia, or salt poisoning.

Soy sauce contains a lot of salt in it, i.e., around 900 milligrammes of salt in a single tablespoon. The doctors gave the 19-year-old water that had high levels of sugar and dextrose in it. This helped them dilute the sodium levels in his body.

In the end, the teenager survived and woke up from a coma after three days. But healthcare professionals revealed that excessive consumption of soy sauce can increase sodium levels in the body, resulting in neurological problems or brain damage.