Gargling with warm salt water has long been considered a tried-and-true remedy for sore throats. Now, a new study suggests it may also help ease COVID-19 symptoms. Researchers conducted an experiment with 58 COVID-19 patients, who gargled with salt water of either high or low salt concentrations four times a day for 14 days. The effectiveness of this treatment was compared against data from nearly 9,400 COVID-19 patients from the general population.
The results revealed that participants who gargled with salt water, regardless of the concentration, were significantly less likely to be hospitalized. Specifically, 19% of those using low-dose salt water and 21% of those using high-dose salt water were hospitalized, compared to 59% of patients who did not gargle at all.
The lead researcher emphasizes that gargling is not intended to replace COVID-19 vaccinations or antiviral drugs. "This is a very, very simple intervention, but it is not meant to replace the actual interventions that we have," he explains. "We think that this could be complementary because it's a simple intervention, it is cheap, and it's available anywhere."
However, the researcher notes that larger studies are still needed to confirm these results and to determine whether gargling with salt water is effective against all strains of the COVID-19 virus.