The Kokoda Track is daunting and dangerous, and must be tackled with caution. Source: HWT Image Library

TOO much water, rather than not enough, may be the cause of deaths on the Kokoda Track, doctors say.

Reports of deaths often list dehydration as a suspected cause, but doctors have warned this could "perpetuate a dangerous culture" when the exact opposite could be to blame.

Drinking too much water can lead to exercise-associated hyponatraemia (EAH) and hikers on the famous track were just as likely – if not more so – to suffer this potentially fatal condition, according to Melbourne’s Dr Eric Seal.

It was common for trekkers to start every day carrying more than four litres of water, he said, creating an "environment of excess water" as they undertook the demanding hike in heat.

‘Well meaning guides and colleagues could also encourage over-hydration while the early symptoms of EAH looked like heat exhaustion, and so could prompt even more fluid intake.

"The unexplained deaths in 2009 of four previously well hikers on the Kokoda Track in similar conditions provide urgency to the need to raise awareness of the association between over-hydration and EAH," Dr Seal and colleagues said in the Medical Journal of Australia.