The pharmaceutical industry is constantly evolving. Based on the latest discoveries, pharmaceutical companies release new drugs, consigning old ones to oblivion. Until very recently, Soviet women who urgently wanted to lose weight knew that they had Glauber’s salt available to them, on sale for mere pennies at every drugstore. Today, a pharmacist would shrug at such a request. After all, the only place where this product can currently be bought is a veterinary clinic. And that is because it was ousted from the market by a more perfect analog: magnesium sulfate. However, there is still a difference between these laxatives.
Brief description
Full chemical name: decahydrate sodium sulfate crystals.
Other names:
- Sal glauberi;
- Siberian salt;
- Mirabilite;
- Sodium sulfate;
- Gujer.
Chemical formula: Na2SO4 · 10H2O.
Release form: coarsely crystalline powder, white.
Description:
- large transparent crystals;
- geometric shape of the crystals: prisms;
- taste: bitter and salty;
- lack of smell;
- rapidly melts in the mouth, dissolves instantly in water;
- non-flammable;
- loses weight during prolonged exposure to air and when heated due to evaporation;
- after complete evaporation, converts to ordinary sodium sulfate.
Purpose: laxative.
Dosing: orally, dissolved in water.
Pharmacokinetics: not absorbed in the intestines.
Sources:
- mineral extracted in Canada, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Western Siberia;
- seawater;
- mineral waters of Karlovy Vary, Marienbad (Czech Republic) spas;
- scum and crusts on rock salt and gypsum deposits.
Historical information: It was first discovered in the winter of 1626 by German alchemist, chemist, pharmacist, and physician Johann Rudolph Glauber in the components of mineral water.
Origin of the name. Glauber called the substance he discovered mirabilite, since “mirabile” in Latin means miraculous. Indeed, this salt cured him of typhus, when he was in extremely serious condition.
The main problem
In medicine and veterinary medicine, Glauber’s salt is used as an effective quick-acting laxative. There is no wonder that it is so popular for weight loss. The problem is that recently it was removed from the register of medicinal products intended for people and remained only as a medicine for animals.
That is why many people seeking to lose weight with the help of mirabilite in particular are concerned about the main question: is it possible to drink a solution made from the powder sold in veterinary pharmacies and clinics?
Many sources claim that the Glauber’s salt that was prescribed by doctors as a laxative in the Soviet period does not differ from that used in veterinary medicine today. On the one hand, it is true that both drugs are produced in the form of pure powder without impurities. On the other hand, it should be remembered that the requirements for medicines intended for people and animals are different.
Glauber’s salt
Today, no doctor will officially prescribe this remedy for their patients. However, there are a huge number of positive reviews about weight loss with the help of this salt. That is why, choosing this way of losing weight, it should be remembered that you will have to take full responsibility for the consequences. Are you ready to drink a drug whose packaging has the following inscriptions: “For veterinary use,” “For animals,” “For veterinary purposes”?
You may as well use for weight loss, with the same success, other laxatives that are functional analogs, but approved by official medicine, for example, magnesium sulfate. Yes, mirabilite works faster, but at the same time it is more irritating to the intestinal walls and has much more side effects.
Moreover, one should not order bright jars with the inscription “Glauber’s salt for people” or “Glauber’s salt for weight loss” from dubious Internet resources, etc. This is fraud.
Mechanism of action
Benefits for health:
- helps with constipation;
- improves digestion;
- normalizes metabolism;
- stimulates bile production;
- facilitates poisoning;
- binds harmful substances that have entered the gastrointestinal tract with food, preventing their absorption into the blood.
Constipation and severe poisoning were the main indications for the use of Glauber’s salt in Soviet medicine.
Effect on weight loss:
- activates intestinal peristalsis, producing a laxative effect;
- this frees the gastrointestinal tract from accumulated fecal masses;
- binds toxic substances in the intestines and removes them from the body;
- enhances lymph drainage;
- removes excess fluid from the body, having a diuretic effect (weaker than the laxative effect);
- cleanses the body.
Mirabilite contributes to weight loss due to the removal of feces, toxins, harmful substances and other waste products, as well as excess fluid. However, during this process, fat deposits do not disappear.
It’s interesting. Paustovsky’s story “Kara-Bugaz” tells about the extraction of Glauber’s salt in Turkmenistan. After its publication, Paustovsky’s colleagues began to call him “mirabilite of our literature.”
Possible harm
Before losing weight with any medicines, it is usually recommended to undergo a medical examination and consult a doctor and a dietician. However, with Glauber’s salt, such advice is completely useless: no medical professional will prescribe a veterinary drug to a person. Therefore, choosing such an extreme method of losing weight, you can only rely on yourself. At the very least, you should familiarize yourself with the contraindications and side effects.
Contraindications:
- individual intolerance;
- vitamin deficiency;
- anemia;
- dehydration;
- serious gastrointestinal diseases, any bowel disorders (especially diarrhea);
- cholecystitis;
- exacerbation of any chronic diseases;
- pregnancy, lactation;
- childhood and old age.
Side effects:
- dehydration;
- deficiency of minerals, vitamins, and other useful substances, which, due to mirabilite, are not absorbed by the body and are actively excreted from it as soon as they enter the gastrointestinal tract;
- persistent uncontrollable diarrhea;
- vomiting (rare, but possible);
- deterioration of health;
- excessive pallor of the skin;
- bags and dark circles under the eyes;
- weakness, fatigue, drowsiness;
- sharp mood swings, irritability;
- allergic reaction.
Given the fairly large list of side effects, it is not surprising that Glauber’s salt was replaced by magnesium sulfate. It is less aggressive towards the gastric mucosa.
Application
The independent use of Glauber’s salt as a laxative for weight loss is problematic because the instructions for use of the drug are designed for animals. There you will find dosages for horses, cattle, deer, sheep, etc. None of this applies to humans. That is why it is necessary to use the drug in accordance with the recommendations of people who have already managed to lose weight with the help of Glauber’s salt. Such a person can be found on the Internet or in special literature.
