Heat Retention Properties of Male and Female Salt in Thai Traditional Medicine

Abstract

The salt pot compress method in postpartum women involves putting male salt in a clay pot, known as a cooking pot, for heat retention. According to Thai traditional medicine textbooks, there are two types for the nature of salt: male and female. Nonetheless, no report has clearly specified why it needs to be only the male salt and whether it has to be one of either sea salt or rock salt. Some textbooks have not even specifically stated that it must be the male salt. Thus, the objectives of this study are as follows: 1) To determine the heat retention properties of both male and female sea salt; 2) To compare the heat retention properties of both male and female sea salt. The results showed that the size and volume of both types of salt decreased after heating. Meanwhile, higher temperature and a longer time in the pot enhanced the salt’s heat. However, the heat retention time of those types of salt decreased with increasing experimental cycles. Moreover, the male sea salt maintained better heat retention properties than the female sea salt. Thai traditional medicine practitioners suggest the use of male sea salt in the intervention of salt pot compress method. In case male sea salt is not found, large grains of salt will work in its place. Additionally, the heated salt can be reused due to no loss in its heat retention properties for up to 2-3 uses. Nevertheless, increasing the time and energy is required to heat the salt, depending on the number of cycles.