Bruce Lee’s death continues to get complicated as years pass by. While many are eagerly waiting for the exact cause of death, a new report has seemingly found out what led to the legendary martial artist's demise.
For the unversed, Lee died in July 1973 at the age of just 32 after suffering cerebral oedema (swelling of the brain).
It was speculated that swelling was thought to be a reaction to the tranquillizer meprobamate, which made up part of a painkiller Lee was given called Equagesic.
However, now a team of researchers has suggested that oedema was caused by hyponatraemia. “In other words, we propose that the kidney’s inability to excrete excess water killed Bruce Lee,” the scientists wrote in the paper published in the Clinical Kidney Journal, as reported by Independent.co.uk.
The report also pointed out that there are several factors suggesting that Lee may have been consuming unusually high quantities of liquid at the time due to his diet. It is said that Lee’s diet consisted of a lot of juices and protein drinks and the use of marijuana, which causes increased thirst.
“In summary, Lee had multiple risk factors predisposing to hyponatraemia resulting from interference with water homeostasis mechanisms that regulate both water intake and water excretion,” the researchers wrote, as reported by Independent.co.uk. “We hypothesize that Bruce Lee died from a specific form of kidney dysfunction: the inability to excrete enough water to maintain water homeostasis.”
They concluded: “Ironically, Lee made famous the quote ‘Be water my friend’, but excess water appears to have ultimately killed him.”
Interestingly, Bruce Lee was reimagined in Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. However, Bruce Lee’s daughter Shannon Lee condemned the director for his depiction of her father, calling him “irresponsible” for showing Lee as “an arrogant a**hole who was full of hot air”.
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