MAGNESIUM IN THE MANAGEMENT OF ASTHMA - CRITICAL-REVIEW OF ACUTE AND CHRONIC TREATMENTS, AND DEUTSCHES-MEDIZINISCHES-ZENTRUMS (DMZS) CLINICAL-EXPERIENCE AT THE DEAD-SEA

The recognition of asthma as an inflammatory disease has led over the past 20 years to a major shift in its pharmacotherapy. The previous em phasis on using relatively short-acting agents for relieving bronchosp asms and for removing bronchial mucus has shifted toward long-term str ategies with the use of inhaled corticosteroids, which successfully pr event and abolish airway inflammation. Because some of the biological, chemical, and immunological processes that characterize asthma also u nderly arthritis and other inflammatory diseases, and because many of these conditions have been successfully treated for the past 40 years at the Dead Sea, we were not surprised to realize and record the signi ficant improvement of asthmatic condition after a 4-week stay at the D ead Sea: lung function was improved, the number and severity of attack s was reduced, and the efficacy of beta(2)-agonist treatments was impr oved. After reviewing the acute and chronic treatments of asthma in th e clinic (including emergency rooms) with magnesium compounds, and the use of such salts as supplementary agents in respiratory diseases, we suggest that the improvement in the asthmatic condition at the Dead S ea may be due to absorption of this element through the skin and via t he lungs, and due to its involvement in anti-inflammatory and vasodila tatory processes.