When I visited Israel, I traveled to the Dead Sea. You might have heard of people from all over the word seeking out the Dead Sea for natural medical treatments. People from afar seek to float in its healing waters and to rub that seemingly magical mud into their skin.

On my last visit, I met someone from Europe who claimed that he traveled to Israel every year to treat his psoriasis. He had a particularly severe case of the condition, which did not respond well to conventional treatments. So, each year he booked a trip to the Dead Sea where for a period of six weeks, every day, he floated. He also basked in the sun and rubbed mud all over his body. According to him, these trips to the saltiest water on earth had such miraculous healing effect that he wouldn’t require any additional conventional medical treatments for the remainder of the year.

When I asked him why either the mineral mud or salt floats might have worked on his psoriasis, he simply answered, “I don’t know how. But they do!” 

That answer piqued my curiosity. But what did science have to say about this, I wondered. 

Some scientists postulate that the sulphide-rich medicinal dead sea clay works on topical conditions because of its mineral profile. Lately, however, another reason has emerged a likely answer for why clay possesses unique healing properties: its healing effects on the skin might be due to the microbes and microbial genes associated with metabolism of minerals like iron and sulphur.

Humans Have Always Used Clay

The idea of either eating clay or applying clay on one’s body has been an important part of human life for as long as humans have been on the earth. You might have heard of the term pelotherapy, which is the application of thermal muds for the treatment of skin disorders. These include acne and as mentioned above, psoriasis.

In fact, if we take a trip way back to ancient Egypt, in the days of the Pharoah, his doctors utilized earth as an anti-inflammatory agent. His physicians also used clay mixed with iron as cure for skin wounds and internal ailments.

Even the ancient Greeks utilized mud as a kind of plaster to cure issues of the skin as well as snake bites. Hippocrates employed clay for healing. And, during Roman times, clay was utilized as well.

Healing Properties of Clay

For thousands of years, ethnomedicinal claims for the use of clay were passed down from generation to generation. Now, we have the benefit of advanced science techniques to validate the ancient use of clay. The healing properties of earth include antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory, which are attributed in part to the clay’s physical characteristics – in other words the mineral contents of the clay – and its microbial composition.  

In my book, Healing with Clay, I write about the key reason for why montmorillonite clay is consumed. This is due to its unique ability to detoxify one’s body. Its therapeutic use as a detoxifier can be assigned to its absorptive and adsorptive properties and ion exchange capacity.

Outside detoxification, scientists know and understand that metallic ions including silver, copper, iron, and zinc have strong inhibitory and bactericidal (this is a fancy word for saying that it kills bacteria) effects on a broad spectrum of bacteria. French green clay, which is high in iron has been used to treat Buruli ulcer, a bacterial infection that mainly affects the skin but also can affect the bone.

Across from the country Israel is Jordan whose red soils have been discovered to possess antimicrobial efficacy. This is evidenced by a consortium of antibiotic-producing bacteria. A number of studies have been performed that validate the role of microbes in keeping the skin’s physical barrier healthy. Basically, it is thought that microbes within the clay might play a role in skin healing by producing skin healing compounds.

Clay Producing Antibiotics

In some researched clays there are a major group of antibiotic-producing bacteria. Yes, you read that right. Bacteria that have the capability to fight other bacteria. The research is in development so don’t immediately put down that bottle of antibiotics, which the doctor just gave you. To clarify, we are talking about its use in topical treatment.

What’s Next?

More research is needed with clay to investigate the role of microbes and its metabolites in skin healing. It is exciting to see that this age-old medicine has new applications that are under exploration.