AGONY AND ECSTASY

I was amazed at the suggestion that salt should be added to bottled
water in order to prevent "water intoxication" and two deaths per year
as a result of using ecstasy (25 November, p 11). It has been
estimated that in Britain today, mean salt intakes are more than twice
the recommended level. Simply not adding salt during cooking, even
though not enough to bring intakes down to the preferred level of
about 5 grams a day, would still lower the incidence of strokes and
heart disease by 26 per cent and 15 per cent respectively.

I agree that ecstasy users should be protected from "water
intoxication", but not at the expense of others in the community. If
the drug were produced and sold under controlled (legal) conditions,
it would be possible to add salt during manufacture. Moreover I think
that the rest of us should be protected from stroke and heart disease
through control of the salt content in ready-cooked meals, bread and
breakfast cereals, which are the main products damaging our health.

Philip Ward, University of Sheffield