Salt cave that 'treats asthma'

Patients will be treated at a "salt cave" in a former church in Wandsworth.

The therapy is being piloted by the Allergy and Asthma Drug Free Treatment Centre and is already widely used in countries including Poland, which has 200 clinics.

Experts including Asthma UK are backing the treatment, called Halotherapy, which is expected to become available on the NHS.

One in three people in London have an allergy and one out of 13 have asthma. Treatments include steroids but these can cause side-effects such as a sore mouth, or can affect hormone levels.

Salt therapy claims to work by clearing the airways of mucus and reducing inflammation triggered by allergies to dust, pollen or pollution.

Sufferers sit in a chamber which has its own micro-climate and is coated with salt. Particles of dry rock salt are ground up by a special machine and circulated around the chamber.

These particles, invisible to the naked eye, penetrate deep into the respiratory system. Minerals including potassium and magnesium are said to help reduce inflammation and clean out mucus blocking the airways.

Those who have tried the treatment include four-year-old Toby Johnson from south-west London, who was diagnosed with asthma last year.

His mother Hannah, 36, said that sessions at the salt cave, which uses salt imported from Lithuania, have helped his breathing.

She said: "Toby was constantly ill and on antibiotics so the doctor put him on a Ventolin inhaler and a heavy dose of steroids. Then I heard about salt therapy through his nursery.

"It's really improved his breathing and means he takes less drugs at night."

Experts have already found that asthmatics can breathe easier if they are sent down salt mines.

The popularity of salt treatment was inspired by 19th century findings that Polish salt miners had fewer pulmonary problems than other people. Then, in the Nineties, scientists started to explore recreating similar conditions above ground.

A Finnish study found that sufferers' lungs were less likely to show allergic "hyper-responsiveness" to their environment.

It concluded that a salt chamber could prove a useful addition to conventional medicine. Allergy expert Dr Robert Boyle from Imperial College said saline - a solution of salt and water - was already used in treating cystic fibrosis patients. He said: "Concentrated or hypertonic saline is used for children with cystic fibrosis to thin mucus. When it's inhaled, it helps to thin the secretions."

But Asthma UK said the evidence was inconclusive about the benefits of salt therapy for asthma. A spokeswoman for the charity said: "There is evidence that it can have a benefit but we just don't know enough about it. We would advise people to continue taking their normal prescribed medicine."

The treatment costs £35 for an hour and patients are advised to have between 10 and 20 sessions depending on the severity of their condition.