A 22-year-old Chinese man died after drinking a 1.5 liter bottle of a popular soft drink in 10 minutes.
In a report from Daily Mail, doctors said the man's rapid consumption of the drink led to a fatal build-up of gas inside his body.
Six hours later, the man went to Chaoyang Hospital in Beijing after suffering from a swollen stomach and severe pain.
The man said he rapidly consumed the carbonated drink because he wanted to cool off due to the hot weather.
According to the Clinics and Research in Hepatology and Gastroenterology, consuming the drink so quickly led to gas gathering in his intestines.
While the man was believed to have no underlying health issues, doctors found he had an elevated heart rate, rapid breathing, and low blood pressure.
Doctors also noted that the condition reduced the oxygen supply to his liver, causing hepatic ischemia, also known as "shock liver," resulting in his death, the report added.
A CT scan result also showed that he had pneumatosis, an abnormal build-up of gas in the intestines and portal vein.
The hospital staff tried to release the gas from his digestive system but they were still not able to stop serious liver damage.
After 18 hours of treatment, the man died. It is believed that his death was caused by severe damage to the liver.
However, Professor Nathan Davies, a biochemist at University College London, said drinking 1.5 liters of soft drink causing death was unlikely.
"The chances of downing 1.5 liters, or a little over three pints, of a regular soft drink being fatal would be very, very unlikely, I mean, staggeringly unlikely. Usually, this type of condition is caused because you have bacteria that has made its way from the normal gastrointestinal tract to somewhere they are not supposed to be, in this case, in the lining of the small intestine," Davies told Daily Mail.
He said it was possible that the man's death was due to the underlying condition and drinking a large amount of the soda.
More information was needed than that provided in the report to draw any firm conclusions on what is really the cause of the man's death, Davies added.
"It's possible, but not necessarily that likely, that drinking a large amount of carbonated drink could have had an exacerbating effect. But with no underlying condition it is very hard to see what could have happened."