The root of the problem with cystic fibrosis is salt. Chloride channels in the cells don’t work properly and cause normally thin mucus in the body to become thick and sticky. It clogs the pancreas, it clogs the lungs and it leads to life threatening lung infections. So, add salt and the conditions improve. In fact, surfers with CF have better lung function than those who don’t surf. And from this finding, a now routine CF treatment, hypertonic saline, was born.
However, there’s a new age of salt treatments taking over the American business world from salt lamps to all out salt rooms. Salt isn’t just beneficial to people with CF but to those with lung conditions from allergies to asthma, and the rest of us as well. As it turns out, Europeans having been travelling to salt caves for thousands of years to breathe in the salty air and the benefits it brings. It is believed that salt has antibacterial and antimicrobial properties and acts as an anti-inflammatory in the lung tissue.
Salt products on the market range from simple salt lamps that are said to cleanse the air in your home to salt cocoons that you get in to breathe in salty air. And popping up all over the country are salt rooms with walls, ceilings and floors made of salt as well as salt air pumped into the room. The possibilities to treat your lung ailments with salt are endless.