Abstract
It is a great pity that in their excellent article on hyponatraemia Thompson and Crowley (Thompson CJ, Crowley RK. Hyponatraemia. J R Coll Phys Edinb 2009; 39:154–7) made no mention of hyponatraemia induced by overdrinking. This is now a widely recognised hazard for athletes, especially distance runners, and has been the cause of many deaths in very fit and healthy young people.1 This is due to the ‘liquid refreshment’ industry trying to translate good laboratory research into the different situation in the field.2 Unfortunately the drinks industry is now so profitable and powerful that they are still pushing people to drink a lot of fluid. This financially driven momentum has now led to hyponatraemia occuring in patients during labour, increasing the hazards of birth.3 It is time this drive to keep everybody drinking at all times is stopped.
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