When people use saltwater rinses for stuffy noses from colds, they often feel a little bit of discomfort. This shows that even though it's mostly safe, it can still have some minor bad effects.

20

Pro

0

Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

20

Community contributions welcome

20

Saline nasal irrigation for acute upper respiratory tract infections.

Systematic Review

2010 Mar 17

The study found that many people, especially babies, felt minor discomfort when using saline nose rinses for colds, which matches the claim that this treatment isn't completely free of side effects.

Contradicting (0)

0

Community contributions welcome

No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

Saline nasal irrigation for acute upper respiratory tract infections.

Score: 20

DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006821.pub2

Similar Assertions

Using saltwater nose rinses for colds and sinus infections doesn't seem to help adults much, according to studies comparing it to other treatments.

20

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Using saltwater nose rinses might help you get over a cold about a third of a day faster, but the study wasn't sure if this small difference was real luck or just chance.

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In a small test, most people found that using saltwater nose rinses and gargling helped their cold symptoms and were happy to do it, showing it might work well for bigger studies.

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Using saltwater nose rinses and gargling might help healthy adults with colds use 36% less store-bought medicine, according to a small study. This could mean fewer people need drugs for cold symptoms, but bigger studies are needed to be sure.

56

0

73%