If you’ve ever gargled with salt water to ease a sore throat or cold symptoms, you know whether it made you feel better. But now the “Really?” column explores the scientific evidence behind the popular home remedy.
Not only does the saltwater gargle appear to ease cold symptoms, but it also keeps you healthier during cold and flu season.
In a randomized study published in The American Journal of Preventive Medicine in 2005, researchers recruited almost 400 healthy volunteers and followed them for 60 days during cold and flu season. Some of the subjects were told to gargle three times a day. At the end of the study period, the group that regularly gargled had a nearly 40 percent decrease in upper respiratory tract infections compared with the control group, and when they did get sick, "gargling tended to attenuate bronchial symptoms," the researchers wrote.
To learn more read the full column, "The Claim: Gargling With Salt Water can Ease Cold Symptoms,".
By
TARA PARKER-POPE