Recipes · Home Remedy
Warm Salt-Water Gargle
Reader ratingsHalf a teaspoon of salt in a cup of warm water, gargled for half a minute and spat out. The oldest sore-throat comfort measure in the kitchen.
Gargling warm salt water is a household remedy for sore throats passed down in many cultures.
Safety
- Spit, don’t swallow. Swallowing salt water can cause nausea and vomiting, and a lot of salt is dangerous for small children, so only children old enough to gargle and spit reliably (usually about 6 and over) should do it, with an adult watching. If you follow a low-sodium diet, take care not to swallow it.
- See a doctor if a sore throat comes with a fever above 101°F (38.3°C), trouble swallowing or breathing, drooling, a muffled voice, swelling on one side of the throat, a rash or a stiff neck, or if it lasts longer than about a week. Strep throat can need antibiotics, which a gargle cannot replace.
- Never gargle with water hot enough to scald your mouth or throat.
Why it’s good for you
It costs almost nothing, uses a pantry staple, and many people find warm salt water soothing on a scratchy throat.
Evidence
Limited evidence
Mostly small, early, or laboratory studies.
In a Japanese randomized trial of 387 healthy volunteers, gargling plain water at least three times a day lowered the chance of catching a new upper respiratory infection by about a third over 60 days (rate ratio 0.64), though a salt-water group was not tested. A small, unblinded pilot of 68 adults who started salt-water nasal rinsing and gargling within 48 hours of cold symptoms found their illness lasted about 1.9 days less, but it was designed to test recruitment and needs a larger trial. We found no trial of salt-water gargles for sore-throat pain itself.
General information from research and traditional use — not medical advice, and not a treatment for any condition. If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication or managing a health condition, check with your clinician first, and seek care for symptoms that are severe or do not improve.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Stir 1/2 teaspoon of fine salt into 1 cup (240 mL) of warm water until it has completely dissolved. The water should be comfortably warm, never hot.
- Take a mouthful, not the whole cup. Tip your head back slightly and gargle gently for about 30 seconds, so the water reaches the back of your throat.
- Spit it out; do not swallow it. Repeat with the rest of the cup.
- Rinse your mouth with plain water. Gargle up to 3 or 4 times a day while your throat is sore, making a fresh cup each time.
Tips
- The best trial tested plain water gargled at least three times a day, so the salt is optional. Many people simply find salt water more soothing.
- Fine salt dissolves faster than coarse. Stir until you cannot see any crystals, because undissolved grains scratch a sore throat.
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