Especially in the chilly months of the year, there are more colds going around. The most common cause is viruses that we breathe in and which make us ill. Read here, how nebuliser therapy can support you during the cold season. Find out also why inhalation with hot steam is not useful for treating colds.
Our airways have a very sophisticated mechanism by which they protect themselves – mucociliary clearance. This protective mechanism coats the mucous membranes over the entire airways from the nose down to the finely branched bronchial system. This is a first line of defence of our innate immune system1. The innate immune system is also called the non-specific immune system, i.e. it is not geared towards a specific pathogen, but rather against a huge range of foreign substances we breathe in.
In the chilly months of the year, we are more likely to catch a cold. There are several reasons for this:
So, it is all the more important to support our airways so they can protect us in the cold months of the year. Our mucous membranes should ideally be kept moist. Daily inhalation with isotonic saline solution is a suitable option. Their salt content of 0.9% is the same as the fluids in our body and so moistens the airways.
If cold viruses have made it past the body’s own defences in our airways, we often notice this with a mucus build-up. Our mucous membranes try to get rid of the intruders by producing more mucus. Coughing and sneezing is then a useful protective reflex. By inhaling hypertonic saline solution, we can support our airways to remove the mucus with the pathogens. A hypertonic saline solution has a salt content higher than our bodily fluids (> 0.9%). The salt liquifies the mucus which can then be coughed up with the pathogens.
The video has more information on how saline solutions work in inhalation therapy.
How different salt contents act
Inhaling steam over a cooking pot is an old home remedy. Unfortunately, not everything that has stood the test of time works well. As shown above, salt is important to help the mucous membranes protect us from viruses. The truth is: You cannot inhale salt over a pot, as the boiling temperature of salt is much higher than that of water and so it is not released with the steam. Otherwise, it would not be at all possible to obtain sea salt from evaporation. Summary: You need a suitable inhalation device for inhalation therapy with salt.
Inhalation therapy over a cooking pot – a myth that is still going strong
Inhalation of isotonic saline solution is especially recommended for a dry cough and helps to prevent colds, as it moistens the mucous membranes.
Hypertonic saline solutions such as MucoClear 3 % are suitable for treating a build-up of mucus, as they liquify the mucus and so help the airways cough up the mucus with the pathogens.
By inhaling saline solutions, we can help the first line of defence of our airways do its job. Isotonic inhalation solutions can prevent infections and moisten the airways. Hypertonic saline solutions help loosen mucus if you already have a cold. Saline solutions cannot be inhaled over a cooking pot, as the salt does not evaporate.
References
[1] Moriyama et al., 2020 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32196426/
[2] Huang, et al., 2022 https://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749(22)01423-3/fulltext
[3] Moriyama et al., 2020 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32196426/
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