Epsom Salts – Miracle Or Myth

Magnesium sulphate heptahydrate, Epsom Salt, some people will tell you it is a miracle cure for just about anything that ails you. Others will tell you it's a chemical compound that does as much for a human being as seawater.

There are websites dedicated to its many uses and almost as many websites dedicated to debunking all of those claims. Let's take a look at a substance that I have been using or told to use since I was a kid. Yes, I know that was a long time ago when oil was still dinosaurs, but humor me, I am an old man.

Epsom Salt takes it's name from the place where it was first readily available. A spring near Epsom in Surrey England. This bitter saline spring was where the local folks would go to get the water and mine the salt. The salt was said to have amazing powers. Did the overzealous reviews of these first Epsom Salt connoisseurs set the stage for what we believe today?

Soak in an Epsom Salt bath, that was a sure way to relieve sore muscles or an aching back. It was also a recommended treatment for constipation at my boyhood home. In the bathtub is exactly where you want to be when your laxative starts working right?

Regardless the faithful have many uses for this unique product. Some say Epsom Salt works through osmosis and gets into the skin to help exfoliate and clean. Others say Epsom Salt makes a darn fine pots and pans cleaner. Still others extol the virtues of Epsom Salt as a great aid in splinter removal.

Most scientist will tell you there isn't a lot of science behind these claims. In fact the only real substantial claim I could find about Epsom Salt was as a garden ingredient. So what are we to believe? I think you should believe your body. If your body feels better after a  soak in Epsom Salt then keep doing it. If it doesn't do the trick for you then never mind.

There is no harm in using Epsom Salt in any of the uses described in this article or in the links contained in this article. There is just no real proof from the scientific community that its the Epsom Salt that is making the difference.