Dead Sea clay

When you hear about the benefits of Dead Sea clay, your interlocutor is making a mistake: they are talking about the benefits of Dead Sea healing mud.

After all, clay and medicinal mud (peloids) are not the same thing, although the Greek word pelos means both mud and clay...

Any clay is a sedimentary rock that contains layered hydrates of aluminum silicates. The main one is kaolinite, which consists of silicon and aluminum oxides. In most cases, clay on the bottom of a lake or sea appeared as sediment from the water of those rivers and streams that flow into the reservoir.

Therapeutic muds (peloids) are also sedimentary deposits, but are not rocks. By origin, peloids can be sulphide silt, peat, sapropel or mud. The Dead Sea clay, called by some, is sulphide silt mud that forms at the bottom of bodies of water with salt water. However, the Dead Sea therapeutic mud is not marine (remember that this is a salty endorheic lake), but continental.

Indications for the use of Dead Sea clay

It should be noted that indications for the use of Dead Sea clay include an extremely wide range of diseases.

These are diseases of the musculoskeletal system and musculoskeletal system (arthritis, polyarthritis, arthrosis, ostitis, myositis, etc.); dermatological diseases (eczema, neurodermatitis, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, seborrhea, scleroderma, etc.); diseases of the peripheral and central nervous system (radiculitis, neuritis, etc.); pathologies of the respiratory system (chronic bronchitis, bronchial asthma, cystic fibrosis, chronic pulmonary obstruction, etc.); diseases of the gastrointestinal tract (gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer outside of exacerbation, chronic colitis).

Useful properties of Dead Sea clay

The beneficial properties of Dead Sea clay are hidden in its high mineralization (salt content). As is known, the composition of therapeutic mud is similar to the composition of water. And the Dead Sea water contains more than three dozen mineral salts, including sulfates, sulfides, chlorides and bromides of potassium, calcium, magnesium, manganese, sodium, sulfur, phosphorus, silicon, zinc, copper, iron.

Magnesium and sodium salts stimulate intracellular metabolism and amino acid synthesis; manganese compounds improve local blood circulation; calcium ions reduce the permeability of cell membranes and the sensitivity of skin nociceptors; bromine and zinc ions have antimicrobial properties.

Among the main beneficial properties of Dead Sea clay (i.e. sulfide mud), experts note its bactericidal effect, which is manifested in the ability of humic substances (formed during chemical and microbiological processes that lasted for thousands of years) to bind ions of various inorganic substances, as well as cells of pathogenic microorganisms. This leads to the neutralization of toxins and the death of microbes and pathogenic bacteria.

And although sulphide mud - black clay of the Dead Sea - does not have a high content of organic substances, the participation of microorganisms in its formation is indicated by its color. This mud acquired its black color as a result of the fact that during the metabolism of sulphidogenic anaerobic bacteria, all sulfuric acid compounds (sulphates) are converted into hydrogen sulphide. And hydrogen sulphide in conditions of high concentration interacts with many metals, including iron. The end product of this reaction is aqueous iron sulphide - hydrotroillite, due to which the mud of the Dead Sea is so black.

Dead Sea Clay Treatment

Treatment with Dead Sea clay – peloidotherapy – is possible thanks to its unique chemical composition and biologically active components.

At the same time, therapeutic muds act both locally and systemically. For example, mud applications, popular for many diseases, affect the body by acting on the receptors of the skin, due to which a reflex response of the body occurs at the neuroendocrine and neurovascular levels. And this stimulates not only intracellular metabolism, but also activates the functional mechanisms of internal organs and even systemic biochemical processes in the body.

Moreover, research in the field of peloidotherapy has shown that the active substances contained in the fine mud of the Dead Sea can penetrate the skin, and from there - into the blood, accelerating many biochemical processes. Which, as a result, gives a therapeutic effect: analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant.

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Dead Sea Clay for Face

Dead Sea clay for the face (healing mud) is widely used in cosmetology, most often in the form of masks. A mask made of Dead Sea clay of Israeli production (cosmetic companies Dead Sea Minerals, Ahava, Care & Beauty, etc.), as well as produced in Jordan (trade marks Dead Sea FORTUNE, La Cure, Rivage, C Products, BLOOM Dead Sea Life) does not cause the slightest doubt, because it is their national product, exported to many countries.

This Dead Sea clay mask (which is recommended to be done no more than once every 7-10 days) helps cleanse the skin and retain moisture, increase elasticity and reduce the appearance of wrinkles. In addition, such masks are especially useful for oily skin and acne.

But the Dead Sea clay Fitokosmetik is produced in the Russian Federation (OOO Fitokosmetik). The packaging states that this is a medical and cosmetic black clay of the Dead Sea for the face and body with silver ions. And that it stimulates blood circulation, relieves muscle tension, and alleviates joint and muscle pain. It is not entirely clear why - with such a rich composition of natural sulfide silt mud of the Dead Sea - silver ions were needed in this mask, which are known to have an antimicrobial effect.

And many reviews of the Dead Sea clay Fitokosmetik repeat what is written on the label of the pack with this product. But there are also real reviews, according to which the "creamy consistency" recommended for preparing the mask is not quite creamy. It resembles "mud with tiny little grains"...

The explanatory dictionary by V. Dahl gives an explanation: “dirt is soggy soil, earth with water; slush or wetness on the ground; impurity stuck to a thing; dust, filth.” So those who call the healing mud of the Dead Sea - Dead Sea clay, probably do not want to “offend” this unique substance given to us by nature.

Contraindications to the use of Dead Sea clay

Contraindications to the use of Dead Sea clay and any peloidotherapy concern all oncological diseases; benign tumors of the uterus and mammary glands, as well as gynecological diseases with elevated estrogen levels; tuberculosis; acute inflammatory diseases and chronic diseases in the acute stage; diseases accompanied by bleeding.

Doctors do not recommend treatment with Dead Sea clay for progressive polyarthritis (with irreversible joint pathologies), nephritis or nephrosis, as well as problems with the heart and thyroid gland.

Mud therapy is strictly contraindicated during pregnancy.