Remember when you used to get sick as a child, and your mom made you gargle with warm salt water? Though I didn’t enjoy it much, it did work well to ease my cold symptoms.  As it turns out, you don’t even need to add salt to your water to get the same healing effects.

Researchers have discovered that gargling with plain tap water helps prevent colds, sore throats and upper respiratory infections. It also eases the symptoms of those who have already gotten sick. However, the reason for this is yet to be determined.

We at Filters Fast have a theory: chlorine. It makes sense. Since chlorine is used in most municipal water treatment plants as a common water disinfectant, and is effective at killing bacteria and viruses, it’s no surprise that this same water can kill the bacteria and viruses that linger in the back of your throat and manifest themselves in the form of common cold symptoms, right? Not to mention, salt, or sodium chloride, is formed with one ion of chlorine, so it’s also no surprise that gargling with salt water would have the same effect.

However, we also have another theory. Since the the  daily exposure to chlorine in our drinking and bathing water has been found to cause, or even aggravate existing respiratory ailments long-term, could not the daily practice of gargling with tap water do the same?

My advice? Filter your tap water and use it for drinking and cooking instead of gargling. There are many other ways to kill bacteria and viruses, including a diet rich in oregano, which may also help prevent sickness.