What is Epsom salt?
Most people today are very surprised when you tell them Epsom salt is magnesium sulphate, the most gentle form of magnesium on your skin. They can tell you their mother or grandmother has always used Epsom salt as a home remedy in the bath to relieve sore muscles and joints.
Doctors have been recommending Epsom salt to patients for centuries, and for good reason. It works! Like trees in an orchard, people need these ever-important minerals to thrive. Magnesium is responsible for many processes in the human body, including the release of specific enzymes and the contraction of muscles. Magnesium sulphate applied to the skin can help alleviate a number of conditions, from eczema to tired muscles. Sulphate has a role in forming joint proteins, which may help patients with joint pain caused by arthritis and other joint-related conditions.
Where does Epsom salt come from?
Magnesium sulphate heptahydrate comes from two sources: manmade salts manufactured in a chemical plant by mixing sulphuric acid and magnesium oxide, or natural Epsom salt made by Mother Nature, which comes from a unique geological deposit. Ask the question: which type of Epsom salt would you prefer to put on or in your body? Health conscious consumers will want the real natural Epsom salt with 50 percent fewer secondary trace minerals.
The many uses of Epsom salt
Epsom salt is used in organic agriculture, food processing, and medicine. For example, in agriculture, Epsom salt is important for the soil as it is rich in both magnesium and sulphur, which are critical for healthy plant growth. In food processing, magnesium is used as a nutrient, flavour enhancer, and in the fermentation process of beer. In medicine, magnesium sulphate is an effective and safe antiarrhythmic agent for arrhythmias developed after open-heart surgery. The World Health Organization lists magnesium sulphate as an essential medicine for use in eclampsia.
The different forms of Epsom salt
Liquid
In medicine, magnesium sulphate is diluted into sterile water for injection, administered by intravenous or intramuscular routes as an electrolyte replenisher or anticonvulsant.
Solid
Epsom salt crystals can be found widely in the mass market to be used as a laxative or added to a bath to alleviate soreness and soften skin by restoring healthy levels of magnesium and sulphate in the body.
Semi-solid
Epsomgel solution is a new, made in Canada, topical pain relief formula with the highest concentration of natural magnesium sulphate that skin will absorb.
Why not recommend a product that contains magnesium sulphate with Arnica montana?
A more usable form of magnesium sulphate for everyday use is now available in a unique water-based solution. Epsomgel pain relief solution has all the benefits of magnesium sulphate in a convenient concentrated solution. The formula combines the added benefits of hand-harvested organic Arnica montana flowers with an outstanding aroma therapy blend of six essential oils chosen for their specific qualities.