Health Benefits of Sea Water

While drinking sea water is unsafe and polluted sea water can cause a host of health problems, uncontaminated sea water provides therapeutic health benefits, according to The Natural Ingredient Resource Center. While not highly popular in the United States, Europeans have practiced salt water bathing and salt water therapies for thousands of years.

Skin Healing Treatments

• Alternative medicine practitioners and wellness spas worldwide use a salt water treatment, known as thalassotherapy, to detoxify skin and heal it of many minor conditions, such as abrasions and rashes. The medicinal use of salt water dates back thousands of years, at least to the era of Hippocrates--the "Father of Modern Medicine"--who discovered sea water's ability to heal the wounds of fishermen and began using the treatment on his patients.

Beauty Treatments

• Sea salt is derived from sea water evaporation. Spas all over the world use it in their beauty treatments, from skin exfoliation to massage therapy. Many people believe salt from the Dead Sea is superior to other sea salts, and carries the ability to remove toxins from the skin, relieve muscle tension and reduce body aches and pains.

Sinus Relief

• Salt water is also recognized for its ability to relieve common ailments, like cold and flu symptoms. When you are suffering from a cold or flu, saline (salt water) nose drops can help loosen mucus in your nasal passages, and salt water gargling can relieve a sore throat.

Antioxidant Booster

• A study completed in 2008 by Italian scientist Riccardo Izzo and colleagues found that cherry tomatoes grown in diluted sea water contained a higher amount of antioxidants than tomatoes grown using fresh water. The study also found that consuming the sea water-grown tomatoes actually increased the body's ability to fight heart disease and cancer.