Question

A woman who competed in a radio station’s contest to see how much water she could drink without going to the bathroom died of water intoxication, the coroner’s office said Saturday. Jennifer Strange, 28, was found dead Friday in her suburban Rancho Cordova home hours after taking part in the “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” contest in which KDND 107.9 promised a Nintendo Wii video game system for the winner. “She said to one of our supervisors that she was on her way home and her head was hurting her real bad,” said Laura Rios, one of Strange’s co-workers at Radiological Associates of Sacramento. “She was crying and that was the last that anyone had heard from her.” It was not immediately known how much water Strange consumed. A preliminary investigation found evidence “consistent with a water intoxication death,” said assistant Coroner Ed Smith.

Based on what you have learned about osmosis, why do you think this woman died from drinking too much water?

Answer 1

Normally kidney helps to maintain the fluid amount & salt concentration in our body. When we take excessive water in a short period of time & kidney unable to flush the excess fluid (For example in Jennifer Strange's case) then water intoxication happens. When we take excessive amount of water then a condition hyponatremia (A condition in which sodium concentration in our blood goes to below 135 mmol/L) can develop. Sodium helps to maintain the fluid balance in our cell. As concentration of sodium becomes very low, the fluid balance in our cell is disrupted & excess water enter into the cells. Though fat & muscle cells are flexible, brain cells are tightly packaged in the skull & have very little space for expand. Now, when excess water enters the brain cell it causes brain edema or swelling of brain. It causes disastrous consequences. Brain edema develops symptoms like headache, vomiting, seizures etc. & in severe case lead to death.

In the Jennifer Strange's case, excessive water intake causes brain edema & thus she was experiencing severe headache. As she was untreated, unfortunately the situation became fatal to her.