A 27-year-old amateur footballer died of a heart attack after a post-match glass of cold water caused a rare cardiac arrest. Ludwin Florez Nole had just finished a game with his local side Los Rangers in Sullana Province in the north-western Peruvian region of Piura when he started to feel ill and went home, according to local media.
The player’s wife said her husband drank an ice cold glass of water and “shortly afterwards he started to have chest pains so I took him to a nearby clinic, but he died on the way”.
She added: “The doctor told me that he suffered a heart attack because he drank too much cold water while his body was still hot.”
The doctor believed the cold water changed the sportsman’s heart rate, causing a cardiovascular reflex, although it is rare for cool liquid to bring on this condition.
Contaminated liquids can lead to a number of health issues, with arsenic in water causing headaches , stomach pains, convulsions, diarrhoea, vomiting and even death.
Cameroonian international Marc-Vivien Foe, 28, died after collapsing on the pitch in a game against Colombia in 2003. An autopsy found he suffered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which meant the muscle in his heart was thicker than usual, making it harder for him to pump blood around his body.
As a result of Marc-Vivien’s death, measures were put in place to test footballers for heart issues.
Former England defender Ugo Ehiogu died in hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest while coaching at Tottenham Hotspur’s training ground in 2017.
Ex-international goalie Iker Casillas, 37, retired after he had a heart attack on Wednesday last week.
