TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A video demonstrating how to prepare a herbal mixture of ginger, turmeric, galangal, and lemongrass to purportedly cleanse the lungs of cigarette smoke and dust has been circulating on Facebook [archive]. The concoction is claimed to be effective even for heavy smokers who have consumed tobacco for decades.
The method described is simple: wash the four ingredients thoroughly, crush them, and brew them in a glass of hot water. After steeping for 20 minutes, the drink is supposedly consumed every morning on an empty stomach.
But is it true that lungs congested by cigarette smoke and pollution can be purified with this rhizome-based brew?
FACT CHECK
Tempo’s Fact Check Team verified this claim by consulting lung specialists and medical literature. The results show that the concoction of ginger, turmeric, galangal, and lemongrass cannot cleanse a smoker's lungs.
Prastuti Asta Wulaningrum, a lung specialist at Airlangga University Hospital (RSUA), emphasized that the respiratory organs cannot be cleansed with any mixture. "Unfortunately, there is no way to cleanse the lungs of pollution or cigarettes. Once you smoke, the toxins cannot be removed," Prastuti told Tempo on April 29, 2026.
According to Medical News Today, no product has been proven effective in instantly cleansing the lungs. Some ingredients marketed as cleansing agents may actually pose a risk to health. In reality, the lungs possess a self-cleansing mechanism, such as coughing, which does not always indicate illness.
The most effective way to maintain lung health is to avoid toxins like cigarette smoke, vaping, and pollution. Smoking alone contributes to 90 percent of lung cancer deaths and 80 percent of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
CONCLUSION
Tempo’s verification concludes that the claim that herbal concoctions or kitchen spices can remove pollutants from the lungs is false. Toxins in the lungs cannot be cleansed using any concoction.
TEMPO FACT-CHECK TEAM
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