Dead Sea salt as medicine?

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Medicine from the Dead Sea

The Dead Sea has been known for its therapeutic benefits for centuries. Check out how salts from the Sea are now being used to cure a condition naturally

For centuries the waters of the Dead Sea have been known for their therapeutic benefits. The sea contains a high concentration of sea salts with healthy minerals like magnesium, calcium, iodine, zinc, bromide, potassium and sulfur.

These minerals are also very similar to the ones found in skin cells, and many dermatology and beauty products are made from them. But doctors are finding new ways to utilize Dead Sea salts in other areas of medicine.

Patient Rebecca Hensberry, 38, had been experiencing sinus pressure and a headache for about six months and wasn’t getting relief from antibiotics. So she asked Dr. Robert Graham of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City for an alternative treatment.

Graham said flushing out the sinuses with Dead Sea salt would decrease mucus production and inflammation.

“Most people use hypertonic saline, which is basically just table salt that they put in warm water, and they bathe their sinuses,” he said. “This study looked at the concentration of the Dead Sea salt as a substitute…and it showed that it was better in terms of quality of life and symptoms.”

After using the salt treatment, Hensberry said she could really notice the difference.

“I could tell that it was working, and within about a week, I was cured. I’m feeling great,” she said.

Graham says solutions made from Dead Sea salts are natural and non-addictive, with no harmful side effects.

“Often times these simple, non-invasive, natural ways of dealing with things can actually be a first line agent,” he said.