water intoxication
available; if arsenic is an essential trace mineral in human diets, it is probably required on the order of 50 ppb or less. A toxic dose of arsenic corresponds to about 7,000 ppb and higher, which is over 140 times the trace amount that may be required by the body. Thus, arsenic is not poisonous in and of itself. Rather, it is the amount that is dangerous: the dose makes the poison. Similarly, as much as water is needed to keep us alive, too much of it is also risky to our health. Drinking too much water too fast can lead to a condition called water intoxication, which may be fatal. The danger in water intoxication is not that water itself becomes toxic. It is that the ingestion of too much water too fast dilutes sodium ions, potassium ions, and other salts in the bloodstream to concentrations that are not high enough to support brain, muscle, and heart functions. Military personnel, endurance athletes, and even desert hikers are susceptible to water intoxication if they drink water but do not replenish the salts lost in sweat. As this example shows, even the right substances in the wrong amounts can be dangerous!.