Over six billion dollars are spent on asthma annually, with over one billion spent on medications alone. Dr. Richard Firshein believes there is a better answer, and his new book provides a detailed, alternative approach to treating asthma. If I had to recommend one nutrient to asthmatics, it would be magnesium. Over half a century ago, scientists reported that magnesium sulfate worked as a natural bronchodilator, one that opened constricted bronchial tubes without side effects. Though magnesium alone cannot cure a severe attack, intravenous magnesium sulfate is now used at many hospitals along with drugs to treat attacks.
Magnesium works at a cellular level, most likely by displacing calcium.
It is also necessary for muscle contraction. Magnesium, in contrast, helps stabilize the mast cell and relax muscles, so it functions as both an antiinflammatory nutrient and as a bronchodilator. Only a hospital or a trained physician can administer intravenous magnesium. I find that intravenous magnesium, along with other nutrients such as vitamin C and the B vitamins, can be extraordinarily helpful to my patients. Intravenous infusions of nutrients at levels shown to be safe can go straight into the cell in a matter of minutes.