The Claim: Gargling With Salt Water Can Ease Cold Symptoms

THE FACTS Nothing but time can cure the common cold, but a simple cup of salt water might ease the misery this winter.
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In a randomized study published in The American Journal of Preventive Medicine in 2005, researchers recruited almost 400 healthy volunteers and followed them for 60 days during cold and flu season. Some of the subjects were told to gargle three times a day. At the end of the study period, the group that regularly gargled had a nearly 40 percent decrease in upper respiratory tract infectionscompared with the control group, and when they did get sick, “gargling tended to attenuate bronchial symptoms,” the researchers wrote.

Other studies have also found gargling helpful against sore throats and congestion.