Gary m and Mary Anne Taylor

A conjecture about salt being antiseptic- salt has been used to stop bacterial growth and possibly kill bacteria in food preservation (think pickles or salt pork or ham). Bacteria, being living organisms, can't grow in certain environments like very high salt, or very cold (your freezer). Of course, a few have adapted to grow in weird conditions like hot springs, etc, but most, esp the kind that cause disease in humans, get killed or at least slowed down by harsh conditions.
So, I think, using salt to brush with or gargle with probably is mostly for physically removing materials that germs can easily grow on, such as food particles or mucus, but may also give any bacteria trying to get established some discouragement, depending on how long they are exposed to the high salt environment. Am not sure if that short exposure would be enough to make a huge difference, but that may be one reason behind brushing with salt.
Oh- maybe I'll have time later to google and see if anyone's ever done a study on that.-
Mary T.


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