'Too much water intake' responsible for Bruce Lee's death; new study suggests

According to a study cited by Sky News, martial arts icon Bruce Lee may have passed away from consuming too much water. In July 1973, Bruce Lee passed away in Hong Kong at the age of 32. He was found dead from cerebral oedema, or brain swelling, which was believed to be a reaction to a painkiller he had taken, according to the postmortem results.

However, other hypotheses have been advanced after his passing, such as the killing by Chinese criminals or the fact that he passed away from heatstroke. But current study contends that hyponatraemia may have contributed to the oedema that ultimately killed him.

The team of researchers stated in the Clinical kidney journal that "in other words, we propose that the kidney's inability to excrete excess water killed Bruce Lee." They added that a number of indicators suggest he had been consuming high amounts of water, including his wife Linda's reference to a fluid-based diet and his biographer Matthew Polly's repeated mention of water intake on the day of his death.

The researchers hypothesised that the fact that water consumption was repeatedly noted, despite the fact that it is such a routine activity that might have been forgotten given the exceptional circumstances, indicated that it was noticeably greater than the intake of other people present on the day Lee died.

On the day he passed away, Bruce Lee is believed to have continued using cannabis, a substance that increases thirst.

The inability to excrete sufficient amounts of water to maintain water homeostasis, which is primarily a tubular function, was the cause of Bruce Lee's death, the researchers hypothesised.