BonPom newsletter 20 - Dead sea salts by BonPom

Newsletter 20

Dead Sea Salts

he Dead Sea area has long been famous as a treatment resort for patients suffering from a wide range of inflammatory and non-inflammatory joint and skin diseases. Factors contributing to the beneficial effects are the high concentration of salts and minerals in the Dead Sea water, as well as the spring water that is available in the area, medical mud, and the unique climatic conditions including relatively low humidity and high temperatures. However, we can’t all spend our lives bathing in the Dead Sea, as tempting as that may be. Fortunately, bathing in a solution of Dead Sea Salts has been shown to significantly improve many patients’ conditions, and in some cases leads to complete remission lasting for several months. An important advantage of the therapy is the lack of adverse side effects (1). This newsletter will review the conditions that may benefit from Dead Sea salt therapy as well as investigating what it is about Dead Sea salts that provides these therapeutic effects.

Dead Sea Salts and Arthritis The Dead Sea region is the major spa area in Israel for patients with various types of arthritis. The unique climatic conditions, and the therapies based on mud packs and bathing in Dead Sea water combine to alleviate the symptoms of arthritis. Controlled studies conducted over the last 10 years have demonstrated that treatments provided at the Dead Sea have a positive effect on patients with many arthritic conditions including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and osteoarthritis. In addition, the use of mud packs and Dead Sea salts dissolved in regular bath water outside the Dead Sea region are also effective (1,2,3,4)

Dead Sea Salts and Rheumatoid Arthritis One study divided thirty patients with rheumatoid arthritis into two groups of similar age, sex, duration and severity of disease, and medical treatment. All patients were treated once a day with bath salts heated to 35 degrees C for 20 minutes. Group I received Dead Sea bath salts and Group II received sodium chloride (NaCl) for 2 weeks. Neither the patients nor the researchers knew which salts they were using – this is known as a double-blind trial. All patients were evaluated by the same rheumatologist both before and after the treatment period. Follow-up evaluations were made one and three months after conclusion of the treatments. The symptoms that were evaluated included duration of morning stiffness, fifteen metre walk time, hand-grip strength, circumference of joints, number of active joints and the patient’s own assessment of the disease. The laboratory parameters evaluated included erythrocyte sedimentation rate and serum levels of amyloid A, rheumatoid factor and sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium. Significant improvements were observed in the group using the Dead Sea Salts in the majority of the clinical parameters assessed. The benefits were evident for up to one month after the end of the treatment (2,3).

Dead Sea Salts and Osteoarthritis A similar study was carried out on 26 patients with osteoarthritis of the knees. Clinical parameters evaluated included Index of severity of osteoarthritis, patient’s assessment of disease severity, range of movement of knees and soft tissue swelling. Patient’s assessment of improvement by the end of the treatment was significant in the group who bathed in Dead Sea salts whilst those that bathed in sodium chloride did not perceive the same benefits (4).

Dead Sea Salts and Dry Skin Magnesium salts, the prevalent minerals in Dead Sea salts, are known to exhibit favourable effects in inflammatory diseases. One study examined the effects of bathing atopic subjects with dry skin in a solution rich in magnesium chloride from the Dead Sea. Volunteers with dry skin submerged one forearm for 15 minutes in a bath solution containing 5% Dead Sea salts. The second arm was submerged in tap water as a control. Before the study and at weeks 1-6 water loss through the skin, skin hydration, skin roughness, and skin redness were determined. Bathing in the Dead Sea salt solution significantly improved skin barrier function compared with the tap water-treated group. Skin hydration was also improved indicating that the treatment moisturised the skin. Roughness, redness and inflammation were significantly reduced on the forearm treated with the Dead Sea salts. This demonstrates that bathing in the salt solution was well tolerated, improved skin barrier function, enhanced hydration, and reduced skin roughness and inflammation. The researchers suggest that the favourable effects of bathing in the Dead Sea salt solution are most likely related to the high magnesium content (5).

Dead Sea Salts and Psoriasis For centuries, medicated baths have been one of the first lines of treatment for skin diseases such as psoriasis. Even today, with sophisticated immuno-suppressive treatments available, Dead Sea salts are recognized to be a beneficial, safe and effective treatment in the management of psoriatic patients (6). Here’s what research has found: One study found that bathing in a 10% Dead Sea salt solution alongside treatment with ultraviolet B light reduced the area of the skin affected by psoriasis as well as the severity of the disease after 35 treatment sessions. Improvements were still evident at the follow up examination 6 months later (7). Further investigations into what effect Dead Sea salts have on skin cells found that the epidermal Langerhans’ cells that are characteristic of psoriasis were irreversibly decreased by bathing in

Dead Sea salts as compared to bathing in sodium chloride (ordinary salt) which was found to have no effect at all. These findings demonstrate that the anti-psoriatic activity of Dead Sea salts may be the result of pharmacological actions of the salts on skin cells (8).

Dead Sea Salts and Asthma The recognition of asthma as an inflammatory disease has led, over the past 20 years, to a major shift in its treatment. The previous emphasis on using relatively short-acting agents for relieving bronchospasms and for removing bronchial mucus has shifted toward long-term strategies with the use of inhaled corticosteroids, which aim to reduce airway inflammation. Because some of the biological, chemical, and immunological processes that characterize asthma also underlie arthritis and other inflammatory diseases, and because many of these conditions have been successfully treated for the past 40 years at the Dead Sea, researchers were not surprised to record significant improvements in asthmatic conditions after a 4-week stay at the Dead Sea. After reviewing the acute and chronic treatments of asthma in the clinic with magnesium compounds researchers suggest that the improvement in the asthmatic condition at the Dead Sea may be due to absorption of magnesium from the Dead Sea salts through the skin and via the lungs, and due to its involvement in anti-inflammatory and vasodilatory processes (9).

Absorption of Minerals from Dead Sea Salts As we have seen from the above research studies one of the beneficial effects of bathing in Dead Sea salts appears to be the absorption of minerals from the salts via the skin. One study into the effect of different minerals abundant in Dead Sea Brine on the proliferation of fibroblasts grown from psoriatic and healthy skin specimens found that magnesium bromide and magnesium chloride inhibited cell growth more effectively than potassium salts or sodium chloride. These results were obtained with both psoriatic and healthy skin cells (10). This indicates that it may be the high magnesium content of Dead Sea salts that is a major factor in their therapeutic effect. However, other minerals in the salts may also be beneficial; another study found significant increases in the levels of serum bromine, rubidium, calcium and zinc in psoriatic patients after daily bathing in Dead-Sea Salts for 4 weeks. The researchers concluded that there is a definite penetration of salts through both healthy and psoriatic skin. This finding suggests that improvement of the psoriatic condition after bathing in the Dead Sea may be partly attributed to the effect of the minerals on the skin (11).

The Importance of Magnesium

References

Many of these studies point to the beneficial effects of the magnesium content of Dead Sea salts on various conditions. Many people are deficient in magnesium for various reasons including:

Sukenik S, Flusser D, Codish S, Abu-Shakra M. The Dead Sea--a unique resort for patients suffering from joint diseases. Harefuh 2010 Mar;149(3):175-9, 193

Only 16% of the magnesium found in whole wheat remains in refined flour (12). Magnesium has been removed from most drinking water supplies (12). Modern farming practices mean that our soils are lower in magnesium than ever before. Magnesium deficiency may be induced by stress hormones and/or excessive dietary calcium (12). Magnesium is vital for the function of the nervous system with magnesium deficiency coupled with excess calcium and stress being associated with many neuro-pathologies including depression, nerve cell damage, anxiety, irritability, confusion, loss of strength, sleeplessness, headaches, delirium, hallucinations and hyperexcitability (12). There are many case histories showing rapid recovery from major depression using 125-300 mg of magnesium (as glycinate and taurinate) with each meal and at bedtime. Related and accompanying mental illnesses that have also been shown to be improved by magnesium treatment include brain injury, headaches, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, irritability, insomnia, postpartum depression, short-term memory loss, IQ loss and cocaine, alcohol and tobacco abuse (12)

Sukenik S, Neumann L, Buskila D, Kleiner-Baumgarten A, Zimlichman S, Horowitz J. Dead Sea bath salts for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 1990 Jul-Aug;8(4):353-7 Sukenik S. Balneotherapy for rheumatic diseases at the Dead Sea area. Isr J Med Sci. 1996 Jul;32 Suppl:S16-9. Sukenik S, Mayo A, Neumann L, Flusser D, Kleiner-Baumgarten A, Buskila D. Dead Sea bath salts for osteoarthritis of the knee. Harefuh 1995 Aug;129(3-4):100-3, 159, 158. Proksch E, Nissen HP, Bremgartner M, Urgquhart C. Bathing in a magnesium-rich Dead Sea salt solution improves skin barrier function, enhances skin hydration, and reduces inflammation in atopic dry skin. Int J Dermatol. 2005 Feb;44(2):151-7 Verdolini R, Bugatti L, Filosa G, Mannello B, Lawler F, Cerio RR. Old fashioned sodium bicarbonate baths for the treatment of psoriasis in the era of futuristic biologics: an old ally to be rescued. J Dermatol Treat. 2005 Feb;16(1):26-30. Klein A, Schiffner R, Schiffner-Rohe J, Einsele-Kramer B, Heinlin J, Stolz J, Stolz W, Landthaler M. A randomized clinical trial in psoriasis: synchronous balneophototherapy with bathing in Dead Sea salt solution plus narrowband UVB vs. narrowband UVB alone (TOMESA-study group). J Eur Acad Dermatol Venerol. 2011 May;25(5):570-8. Gruner S, Zwirner A, Boonen H, Sonnichsen N. Effect of treatment with salt from the Dead Sea (Tomesa therapy) on epidermal Langerhans cells--a clinical study. Z Hautkr 1990 Dec;65(12):1146-51 Harari M, Barzillai R, Shani J.Magnesium in the management of asthma: critical review of acute and chronic treatments, and Deutsches Medizinisches Zentrum’s (DMZ’s) clinical experience at the Dead Sea. J Asthma 1998;35(7):525-36 Levi-Schaffer F, Shani J, Politi Y, Rubinchik E, Brenner S. Inhibition of proliferation of psoriatic and healthy fibroblasts in cell culture by selected Dead-sea salts. Pharmacology 1996 May;52(5):321-8 Shani J, Barak S, Levi D, Ram M, Schachner ER et al. Skin penetration of minerals in psoriatics and guinea-pigs bathing in hypertonic salt solutions. Pharmacol Res Commun 1985 Jun;17(6):501-12. Eby GA, Eby KL. Rapid recovery from major depression using magnesium treatment. Med Hypotheses 2006;67(2):362-70.

Written by Josie Cowgill Newsletter Design & photography by New Gaia Designs

Conclusion Bathing in Dead Sea salts appears to have beneficial and therapeutic effects on many conditions including psoriasis, dry skin, arthritic disorders and asthma. The beneficial effects of bathing in Dead Sea salts appears to be, at least partly, due to the high content of magnesium as well as other minerals in Dead Sea salts compared to ordinary table salt. The ability of the skin to absorb these minerals appears to be a good way to improve the mineral content of the body and hence many aspects of health. This could potentially be particularly beneficial for those with compromised gut function where mineral absorption may not be optimal.