Salt Water Proposed as Cure for Common Cold in Children

With cold and flu season in full swing, there’s more than a few parents worried about how to treat their children's colds without traditional medication and the answer just may be a dose of salt water.

Researchers in Europe recently reported that a nasal spray made from Atlantic Ocean seawater eased wintertime cold symptoms while preventing them from returning among children ages 6 to 10.

And while the exact reason why it works is not yet known, researchers at the Teaching Hospital of Brno in the Czech Republic believe it could be that salt water has a simple mechanical effect of clearing mucus, or even that trace elements found in it may play a role.

Perhaps not surprisingly, saline washes have long been mentioned as a treatment for the common cold, but the fact that the USFDA recently declared that children under 2 should not be given non-prescription cough and cold medicines due to the potential for dangerous side effects is also bringing new relevance to this age-old remedy.

via:: Green Daily