Drinking seawater can cause severe dehydration
Normally the kidneys excrete a minimum volume of 600 milliosmoles of solutes in 1 liter of urine everyday. Drinking 1 liter of seawater increases the body's NaCl concentration to 1200mOsm.
That means, to be able to excrete the minimum vol. of solutes plus the large amounts of NaCl from the seawater, 2 liters of urine volume must be taken out. This amount already contributes to dehydration which is very common in shipwreck survivors and can be very fatal to the health.
No comments:
Post a Comment