Woman nearly dies after “soy sauce cleanse” hoax promoted on social media – is MSG to blame?

( Natural News ) Dangerous trends are nothing new on the internet, but one particularly ill-conceived fad has left a woman brain dead, according to reports. The woman had taken part in the “ soy sauce cleanse ,”, which sees people drinking a full liter of soy sauce in the span of just two hours on the pretense that it will allow them to rid their body of toxins. The theory goes that soy sauce’s high sodium content means that “toxins” will essentially follow the sodium right out of the body. If that sounds like it has the potential to go very wrong, you won’t find the next part of this story surprising at all. On YouTube, a popular video blogger known as Dr. Bernard said that a 39-year-old woman who decided to try this cleanse noticed her heart racing but resisted the urge to drink water. When she lost her ability to speak and then lost consciousness altogether, her husband called an ambulance. Her heart stopped beating while en route to the hospital, but she was resuscitated. She was treated with a sugar water IV for acute hypernatremia after her husband told doctors about the cleanse. After four days of unconsciousness, she was left unable to move any limbs and had trouble speaking or swallowing. She was diagnosed with a type of nerve damage to her brain stem known as central pontine myelinolysis. Ridiculous idea based on half-truths Dr. Bernard said that the soy sauce challenge is based on half-truths. While water will flow toward sodium in the body, he says, the soy sauce delivered excessive amounts of salt to her stomach, which then started sucking the water from her organs and muscles. When it reached her brain, it led to shrinkage that can cause permanent brain damage. […]

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