Dieting mum dies after drinking 7 pints of water in 2hrs

London, Dec 12 (ANI): A British lady, who was on a diet, collapsed and passed away from cerebral oedema after she drank seven pints of water in just less than two hours.

The diet plan, fourteen-stone Jacqui Henson, 40, was on, included drinking seven pints of water over the course of a day, however when she was not able to do so during the day she had it all in one go at night, causing her brain to swell.

Henson had been following the 12-week LighterLife plan, which recommends an intake of just 500 calories a day, a quarter of the normal amount for a woman.

The mum-of-five from Huddersfield had been desperate to shed weight after piling it on during her pregnancies, and had taken the water as she sat watching TV.

But as it approached 11pm, she complained that her stomach felt solid, and then she became sick before dashing upstairs to the bathroom, where minutes later her husband Brian and 18-year-old daughter Chantelle tried to revive her after she collapsed.

Their attempts to revive her failed however and she was pronounced dead in hospital.

"She was unhappy with how she looked and wanted to do something about it. The day she died she'd come back from a LighterLife meeting and was told she'd made great progress," the Sun quoted Brian as saying.

"She was told the more water she drank the more weight she'd lose. Since she was busy at work, she never had time to drink it in the day, so she drank it at night.

"I can't believe this has happened, the family's in total shock," he added.

Coroner Roger Whittaker recorded a verdict of accidental death - then warned of the perils of drinking vast quantities of water.

"No one should drink water in the quantity that Mrs Henson did over that short a period. Little and often," he said.

LighterLife's Joanne Neville said the water intake was supposed to take place gradually over a day, and that the message was being reinforced by the company.

"We are doing that quite clearly and will continue to do so," she said. (ANI)