Dawn Page awarded £810,000 damages for diet advisor's harmful advice that lead to water intoxication and brain damage.

Hydration Diet woman awarded £810,000 damages
Article in the Independent

Extract:

"A woman who was left brain damaged and epileptic after going on a radical diet has been awarded more than £800,000 damages at the High Court.

Dawn Page, 52, who has two children, was told to drink an extra four pints of water daily and cut salt intake to prevent fluid retention and lose weight. But within days of going on the Amazing Hydration Diet she was vomiting uncontrollably and suffered an epileptic fit.

Mrs Page of Faringdon, Wiltshire, was admitted to intensive care, but has been left suffering from epilepsy and a "cognitive deficit" which has affected her memory, concentration and ability to speak normally.

Mrs Page was forced to quit her job, suffers frequent mood swings, and has relied on her husband, Geoff, 54, for help ever since.

Mrs Page secured a £810,000 payout last week from her nutritionist's insurer after a six-year legal battle. Barbara Nash, who refers to herself as a "nutritional therapist and life coach", denies any fault. The High Court in London ratified the settlement without mention of liability."

The 'nutritionist' should not have advised drinking all that extra water...)o: Antony Andrews, the actor, drank litres of water during a theatre performance years ago and collapsed and had to be rushed to hospital with water poisoning. He'd been influenced by that widespread stupid advice to drink lots of water...)o:

Symptoms of water poisoning include lightheadedness, vomiting, headache, nausea and unresponsiveness. It is clearly dangerous folly to tell someone that vomiting is fine and is "part of the detox process". BBC2 had a programme a year or two ago which found definitively that there is no need for, or benefit from, 'detoxing'.

Then there was that woman who died from water poisoning in a radio competition in Sacramento - http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/catheri...the_blame_game

Cavemen and women lived without added salt in their diet for thousands of years and that is how our bodies evolved, so unless there is a particular medical reason for an individual to have added salt, food with no added salt is the natural way for our bodies to thrive. Societies which in these days eat that stone age sort of diet live long and healthy lives.

I reckon thirst is the body's way of telling us we need water or other fluid, and that when we have satisfied our thirst we should not drink a lot of extra fluid. There's too much emphasis on hydration these days, in my opinion.