**3. Halotherapy**

Salt therapy, halotherapy or speleotherapy [315] is the use of salt mines, caves or other forms of exposure to salt air in the belief that this confers a health benefit. These natural deposits of mineral halite are derived from evaporated ancient lakes and seas. The unrefined rock salt, primarily sodium chloride, also includes varying concentrations of other mineral salts such as calcium and magnesium, manganese and sulfates, which have additional therapeutic proper‐ ties depending on the source [316]. The special characteristics of the microclimate of a salt mine include stable air temperature, humidity and lack of airborne pollutants such as pollens, and are unique to each mine. At depth the air pressure is also significantly higher than above ground, which has been found to benefit sufferers of respiratory diseases in studies conducted at the Dead Sea, which is below sea level.

The use of saline solution delivered by a nebulizer to treat bronchiolitis in children has also been systematically reviewed. The conclusion was current evidence suggests nebulized 3% saline may significantly reduce the length of hospital stay and improve the clinical severity

Use of Trace Elements and Halotherapy in the Treatment of Human Diseases

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Departments of Biological Sciences and Public Health Sciences, College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Science and College of Health and Human Development, USA

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**Author details**

**References**

Vincent S. Gallicchio

There are records of improvements in the breathing of miners in Roman and medieval times. Dr. Felix Boczkowski, a physician at the Polish salt mine at Wieliczka wrote in 1843 that the miners there did not suffer from lung diseases and his successor set up a spa based upon these observations [317]. Modern use of this therapy started in Germany when Dr. Karl Hermann Spannagel [318] noticed improvement in the health of his patients after they hid in the Kluterthöhle karst cave to escape heavy bombing. It is now practiced in places such as Bystrianska in Slovakia [319] Wieliczka in Poland [320], Solotvyno in Ukraine [320] and many other East European countries [321].

Halogenerators are used to simulate the salted atmosphere of salt mines. These highly developed machines crush rock salt into dry micrometer sized particles, ionize the particles, and release them into the air. Salt particles of sizes 0.1-2.5 micrometers are able to escape the natural defenses of the upper airways and travel deep into the lung to the level of the alveoli. Typically used in a small room with floors and walls lined with rock salt, known as artificial salt room.

Salt lamps are another method of salt therapy. A large crystal of natural salt is hollowed out and heated with a tealight or lightbulb. The crystals give off an attractive glow in various colors of pink, orange, red or purple according to the minerals present.

Special home saline therapy devices were developed with the scope of making salt therapy easily available at home, replicating the seashore or speleotherapy aerosol. Hand-held devices and ultrasonic salinizer, use rock salt to create the microscopic breathable parti‐ cles of salt. The hand-held salt inhaler uses dry rock salt and can deliver the salt aerosol by breathing through the mouth and exhaling through the nose, offering 1–2 hours daily exposure. The ultrasonic salinizer uses saline solution [322] made with natural rock salt, to create the salt aerosol. These salt particles are released into the indoor air and freely breathed during the night, offering 7–8 hours daily exposure, especially for chronic respiratory diseases [323]. Breathing an aerosol of hypertonic salt water (3-7% NaCl) has been found effective as a treatment for the heavy build up of mucus typical of cystic fibrosis [323]. The benefits of this treatment were first noticed by sufferers in Australia who were exposed to the natural aerosol of ocean salt spray [323].

The use of saline solution delivered by a nebulizer to treat bronchiolitis in children has also been systematically reviewed. The conclusion was current evidence suggests nebulized 3% saline may significantly reduce the length of hospital stay and improve the clinical severity score in infants with acute viral bronchiolitis [323].
