Salt has earned a bad reputation in recent years, so it may comes as a surprise to hear this ancient seasoning is actually crucial for good health.
Humans are made up of about 72% water and 28% mineral salts, (plus some bacteria, proteins and fatty acids). As such, there are two “oceans” of water in the body. One ocean is held inside the cells of our bodies, and the other ocean is the sea of fluid existing outside of our cells. Your good health depends on a delicate balance between the volume of these two bodies of water, and this balance is achieved by salt—natural, unrefined mineral salts.
A Grain of Salt
The differences between refined salt (also known as “table salt”) and unrefined natural salt are as great as the differences between white sugar and freshly cut sugar cane. These differences can have a major impact on staying healthy, or increasing your risk of diseases you want to avoid.
The typical modern, refined table salt can be compared to refined sugar and refined flour—it used to be a healthful, whole food, but our industrial food system has stripped and processed it into a disaster waiting to happen.
Like most factory-made, food-like products Westerners eat today, what began as an essential nutrient has been disfigured into a detriment to our health.
Major table salt producing companies mine unpalatable and impure rock salt from the earth, then dry it in huge, fossil-fuel-guzzling kilns with temperatures reaching 1200 degrees F. This changes the salt’s chemical structure into pure sodium chloride, an unnatural chemical form of salt that your body recognizes as a foreign substance it wants to get rid of it as quickly as possible.
In order to eliminate the invader, water molecules surround the sodium chloride to neutralize it by breaking it into sodium and chloride ions. For this process, water is extracted from our cells, which then can dehydrate and die. This neutralization process not only kills cells, but also takes a tremendous amount of energy, and causes a constant overburden on our excretory organs.
But if that weren’t enough, after this extremely energy-intensive drying process, toxic additives like fluoride, anti-caking agents, excessive amounts of potassium iodide and other poisons are mixed into the salt. Many versions of commercial salt also contain toxic aluminum derivatives, which have been implicated in a number of health conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease.
All these additives can cause discoloration in salt, so bleaching agents are then used to restore the desirable white color. The end product is a highly industrial, toxic pseudo-food Americans have come to think of as “salt” that causes the potential for a myriad of health problems.
Refined table salt has even been found to be a cause of the Western epidemic of autoimmune disease!
Salt of the Earth
Sea salt is better than table salt, by a wide margin. In contrast to refined table salt, most sea salt is naturally harvested and dried in the sun, and contains a wealth of trace minerals and electrolytes that are easily assimilated by your body.
Unlike refined salt which contains only 2 or 3 elements, sea salt contains about 80 mineral elements (potassium, magnesium, calcium, sodium and more) that are essential in small amounts for a variety of functions in the body.
These mineral salts and electrolytes are key players in enzyme production as well as immune system, adrenal and thyroid function. And while, compared to food, sea salt is not a major source of minerals, like any whole food, sea salt has a natural balance and a lack of toxic additives, so we are actually nourished by it, rather than depleted.
According to Dr. F. Batmanghelidj in his book, Water: For Health, for Healing, for Life
- Salt is most effective in stabilizing irregular heartbeats and, contrary to the misconception that it causes high blood pressure, it is actually essential for the regulation of blood pressure—in conjunction with water. Naturally, the proportions are critical.
- Salt is vital to the extraction of excess acidity from the cells in the body, particularly the brain cells.
- Salt is vital for balancing the sugar levels in the blood; a needed element in diabetics.
- Salt is vital for the generation of hydroelectric energy in cells in the body. It is used for local power generation at the sites of energy need by the cells.
- Salt is vital for absorption of food particles through the intestinal tract.
- Salt is vital for the clearance of the lungs of mucus plugs and sticky phlegm, particularly in asthma and cystic fibrosis.
- Salt is vital for clearing up congestion of the sinuses.
- Salt is a strong natural antihistamine.
- Salt is essential for the prevention of muscle cramps.
- Salt is vital to prevent excess saliva production to the point that it flows out of the mouth during sleep. Needing to constantly mop up excess saliva indicates salt shortage.
- Salt is absolutely vital to making the structure of bones firm. Osteoporosis, in a major way, is a result of salt and water shortage in the body.
- Salt is vital for sleep regulation. It is a natural hypnotic.
- Salt on the tongue will stop persistent dry coughs.
- Salt is vital for the prevention of gout and gouty arthritis.
- Salt is vital for maintaining sexuality and libido.
- Salt is vital for preventing varicose veins and spider veins on the legs and thighs.
- Salt is vital to the communication and information processing of nerve cells the entire time that the brain cells work—from the moment of conception to death.
However, not just any salt will do. It is refined, processed and bleached salts that are the problem. Our bodies are not designed to processed refined sodium chloride since it has no nutritional value. However, when a salt is filled with dozens of minerals such as in the rose-coloured crystals of Himalayan rock salt or the grey texture of Celtic sea salt, our bodies benefit tremendously for their incorporation into our diet.
According to Dr Barbara Hendel, researcher and co-author of Water & Salt, The Essence of Life.
“These mineral salts are identical to the elements of which our bodies have been built and were originally found in the primal ocean from where life originated. We have salty tears and salty perspiration. The chemical and mineral composition of our blood and body fluids are similar to sea water. From the beginning of life, as unborn babies, we are encased in a sack of salty fluid.”
“In water, salt dissolves into mineral ions,” explains Dr Hendel. “These conduct electrical nerve impulses that drive muscle movement and thought processes. Just the simple act of drinking a glass of water requires millions of instructions that come from mineral ions. They’re also needed to balance pH levels in the body.”
“Mineral salts are healthy because they give your body the variety of mineral ions needed to balance its functions, remain healthy and heal. These healing properties have long been recognised in central Europe. At Wieliczka in Poland, a hospital has been carved in a salt mountain. Asthmatics and patients with lung disease and allergies find that breathing air in the saline underground chambers helps improve symptoms in 90 per cent of cases.”
The Salt Hypothesis is Bunk
For 4,000 years, we have known that salt intake can affect blood pressure. We also know that a very small minority of the population can lower blood pressure a bit by restricting dietary salt. And we know that elevated blood pressure, “hypertension,” is a well-documented risk factor for heart attacks and strokes. And we know that reducing high blood pressure can reduce the risk of a heart attack or stroke–depending on how it’s done.
Some have suggested that since salt intakes are related to blood pressure, and since cardiovascular risks are also related to blood pressure, that, surely, salt intake levels are related to cardiovascular risk. The idea is known as the “salt hypothesis.” The problem with this hypothesis is that it has never been proven. In fact, it has been often disproven.
An eight-year study of a New York City hypertensive population stratified for sodium intake levels found those on low-salt diets had more than four times as many heart attacks as those on normal-sodium diets—the exact opposite of what the “salt hypothesis” would have predicted. (1995). Dr. Hillel Cohen who worked on the study documented no health outcomes benefits of lower-sodium diets.
In fact 17 different studies worldwide have found NO relation between salt intake and the incidence of stroke or heart attack.
“But the medical establishment has revered the low-sodium diet for so long that it’s hard to get doctors to question it,” says Dr. Cohen. Cohen doesn’t bother to follow the conventional wisdom himself: “I actually don’t pay attention to sodium.”
In fact, in a recent report that undercuts years of public health warnings, a prestigious group convened by Institute of Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says there is no good reason based on health outcomes for many Americans to drive their sodium consumption down to the very low levels recommended in national dietary guidelines. While people should not eat too much salt, the report also said that the data on the health effects of sodium were too inconsistent to say what the upper limit of sodium consumption should be.
A Salt Worth its Salt
The balanced sodium, potassium and magnesium in natural, unrefined sea salt can help to regulate fluid balance in the body and allow nutrients and oxygen to travel to their necessary destinations.
Unlike refined salt which takes water from your cells, natural salt allows the body to achieve a balance of water in your “oceans,” both inside and outside your cells. With adequate natural salt and pure water, conditions like gout, muscle cramps, water retention and edema disappear.
Balanced natural salts help regulate healthy blood pressure. Natural salt has also been shown to be very helpful in treating adrenal fatigue and chronic fatigue syndrome where blood pressure issues are common. I put a big pinch of sea salt into every glass of water I drink, and it makes a huge difference for me!
Another benefit of natural salt is that it stimulates the production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach and digestive enzymes in the mouth and intestines, which are necessary for the body to utilize nutrients from the foods we eat. This can be especially beneficial for people whose diet consists mainly of cooked foods, since cooking foods destroys enzyme content. Natural sea salt can help the body digest these foods properly.
Sea salt has been used as a primary medicine for thousands of years. Sea salt can help relieve asthma (by putting a small amount on the tongue and letting it dissolve after drinking a large glass of water). There is a new class of asthma inhalers now that use salt solution only, because it works so well.
Salt is also essential for nerve conduction and preserving melatonin and serotonin levels in the brain too, so it helps with a variety of emotional disorders such as high stress tendencies, anxiety, and depression. Natural salts have the ability to clean out the acidity in the brain which is very helpful with Alzheimer’s.
Natural salts are also vital for maintaining muscle tone and strength throughout the body. For example, ongoing low salt intake can affect bladder control in those who have urinary incontinence, and can slow down peristalsis (muscular contractions) in your intestines, leading to sluggish digestion.
An 8-ounce glass of water with a half teaspoon of natural salt and a half teaspoon of sugar or honey can even prevent or stop children’s febrile convulsions by restoring electrolyte homeostasis in the body.
Unrefined, natural salt can even help with weight loss. According to Dr. Esteban Genoa, a Miami physician,
“A lot of people are not overweight because of excess body fat; they are overweight because of excessive bodily fluids. This type of person may go on a starvation diet and gain weight.
These people will benefit from adding the right salt to their foods because their kidneys are not working correctly, the water exchange between the body’s organs, as well as between the extra cellular fluid and the intracellular fluid, does not flow properly. These people are not moving fluid through the system, they are water intoxicated, and they are really going to benefit from the proper salt. In addition, a person with this sort of weight problem should limit carbohydrates.”
Sugar cravings are also the result of eating the wrong kind of salt. The only reason people crave sugar is because the brain is not getting enough sugar. If you don’t have the right kind of salt in your system, you will not be able to extract the sugar out of the carbohydrates that you are eating so your brain keeps looking for sugar, and asking you to eat sugar. In fact, you’ve eaten plenty of sugar; your body just has not digested and utilized it properly. Refined, iodized salt produces a ripple effect in the body. If, however, you consume the right kind of salt, these cravings will disappear in a very short period of time.”
Finally, a number of medical studies have begun to prove what people have known anecdotally for millennia: soaking in natural sea salt baths rich in magnesium, potassium, and calcium may be beneficial in the treatment of various diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and osteoarthritis.
Given the latest health findings that a balance of minerals is the healthiest choice, it makes good sense to switch to natural salts which contain not only sodium and chloride, but also magnesium, potassium and other essential minerals in a form our bodies can naturally use. Not only do these salts promote good health, they also just taste better.
Avoiding Refined Table Salt
Refined sodium chloride is added to almost every preserved, packaged and processed product that you eat. Unless you diligently read every package label, it’s very easy to get too much of this industrial chemical and throw your body out of balance. This is important since over 90% of the money that most Westerners spend on food is for processed, packaged foods.
To avoid refined table salt and its toxic additives, avoid processed foods as much as possible, and be careful to check the labels of the other foods you buy. Even fresh meats are often packaged in broths made with refined salt.
To avoid the refined salt shaker at restaurants, you can carry packets of sea salt in your purse or wallet. If you have adrenal fatigue or chronic fatigue syndrome, you should carry sea salt with you everywhere!
Where to Find Natural Salt
Unrefined, natural salts are not white and dry; they are typically gray with minerals and feel damp. Some artisanal natural salts are pink, yellowish or even black to reflect the diverse mineral sources they come from. Each type of natural salt has its own unique flavor to experiment with.
You can find natural, unrefined salts at Whole Foods, natural food stores, as well as online. My favorite sea salt is from the Celtic Sea Salt Company, which sells unrefined salt that is hand raked from the Brittany sea. Himalayan Pink Sea Salt and Redmond Real Salt from prehistoric sea beds in Utah are also nice choices.
By choosing a real, whole food salt that is “worth its salt,” you can enjoy the health and taste benefits a balance of minerals from the sea can bring to your favorite dishes.
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{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }
I have always craved salt and use it liberally on my food. My husband & I use sea salt now. If the modern medical theories regarding salt were true I should be a walking health disaster, but am still pretty healthy even though I am nearing my 6th decade of life. It does seem moderation is the key in all things, and if you prefer salty foods, sea salt should be the salt of choice!
I love sea salt– it has a much different (better) flavor than table salt. It actually adds to the food rather than just adding a saltiness.
Thanks for sharing on our Healthy Tuesdays Blog Hop.
Kerry from Country Living On A Hill
My kids love sea salt!
Congratulations!!!
Congratulations on winning the People’s Choice Awards! Well deserved!
Thanks for the article and also for mentioning iodine. This is my only problem with a full sea salt diet, lack of information about iodine and even if it’s small amounts; people are still getting at least some. Thanks for mentioning this as well!
Hey,
After showing this article to my daughter in college, she decided to switch to sea salt as well. However when she went to the store she came home with Hain iodized sea salt. It looks just like regular salt and has calcium silicate and sodium bicarbinate as well as Iodine. It simply says it is made from the waters of the pacific. It is snow white. Am I right to be suspicious? Is this masquerading as a healthy salt?
You raise a great question! Most table salt is made from land salts excavated from the ground, which, because of poor taste and quality, usually need to be refined. They then add iodine, anti-caking agents, and other additives to make a fully processed, white, uniform, industrial product.
In contrast, most sea salt is harvested from evaporated ocean water that comes from protected natural pools. Because it comes from the sea and not the soil, sea salt tends to be of purer quality and have better flavor naturally, and typically doesn’t need heavy refining to be palatable. Unlike sea salt, most land salt has to be industrially refined to be palatable, which is why sea salt has become popular as a whole food alternative.
But whether the salt was excavated from the ground or evaporated from the sea, there two things can happen to any salt after it is harvested: It can be minimally processed, packaged and shipped as a whole food (like Celtic Sea Salt, Himalayan Pink Salt, etc.) OR it can be highly processed using industrial refining kilns and chemical additives. (like Hain’s iodized sea salt or Morton’s table salt).
The real problem with salt is in the processing, not in whether the salt came from land or sea. (For example, though land-based salts that are edible without refining are rare, Himalayan Pink Salt and Real Salt are two examples of land-based, whole food salts that are pure and tasty enough on their own to need little processing.) Whether from the land or the sea, you want a minimally processed, whole food salt that contains trace minerals, not a refined industrial product like Hain’s.
Hey Dawn,
Thanks, that’s what I was afraid of. Still searching for a local store that carries the salts mentioned or comparable. May have to take a trip into the city.
Sherry, thought you’d like to know that you can order Redmond salt from RedmondTrading.com.
You can buy minimally processed, wholesome salts from the links in the post above. And doing so would also help keep this blog going by helping me cover the costs of high traffic internet service, newsletter list security, etc.
There’s an easy way to tell. Real salt is NOT white! If it’s white, then it’s been refined. Basically ALL salt is sea salt, so just labeling it “sea salt” is basically a marketing ploy. There are three brands that you can trust: Himilayan – pink, smokey flavored, and from Pakistan so pricey; Redmond Real Salt – flecks of orange, salty-sweet flavored, and from Redmond Utah so affordable; Celtic – not sure the color or flavor since I don’t use this one. Himilayan and Redmond are mined from ancient sea beds, Celtic is evaporated from modern sea bed.
Brilliantly written! Have you heard of the sea-salt test that when you put salt in room-temp water and stir it should dissolve? – That’s supposedly how you know it will dissolve in your body rather than not dissolve and cause problems. Not sure if this is fact or fiction.
Thanks, Jinjee! I don’t know if it is true either, but it does make sense.
This sort of article needs to be headlines in the mainstream press. Why are we still so ignorant about our food? Since learning some of these salt facts a few years ago I refuse to allow myself or my children use anything but Cornish Sea Salt, which I understand to be one of the purist. More science is emerging all the time, such as sea salts anti inflammatory properties which makes it one of the best reliefs for arthritis. I know members of the natural health community who also swear by pure sea salt to aid wound healing.
Perhaps you can enlighten me and help me with a problem I am having. I have recently changed my eating habits for the better by eliminating sugar and choosing the good sea salts among many other things. After 3 months I had my blood work done. For the first time in my life my thyroid was off balance and so was my sugar!! The doctor asked me if I had done anything unusual and of course I had by eliminating iodized salt. She felt I should get back on the iodized salt and let’s see what 3 months would bring before more blood tests. I am using the only iodized sea salt I can find which of course is Morton’s. Any suggestions?
Thyroid issues and blood sugar irregularities go hand in hand. If your thyroid is off, your blood sugar will follow, so addressing the thyroid is key. I am not a doctor, nor have I seen your labs, but it could be that you do not get enough iodine in your diet to make up for what you used to get in your iodized, refined salt.
Iodine is an essential thyroid nutrient that the body does not store and needs to get every day. But it is hard to get, which is why we started iodizing salt in the first place. Unfortunately, iodized salt also contains anti-caking agents, aluminum and other nasties you want to avoid. The best way to get enough iodine to support your thyroid is not through industrially refined salt, but through eating whole foods that are high in iodine like seaweeds, shellfish, and eggs every day.
It is also possible that your thyroid issues have nothing to do with your dietary changes, and are simply coincidental. To find out, put the Morton’s back into your diet and see if things improve. If they do, then you know it was the lack of iodine, and you can choose to get it from food or from a reliable supplement like Lugol’s, instead of from refined salt if you wish. If things don’t improve, then your dietary changes are simply coincidental to your change in labs. Either way, it sounds like a reliable source of iodine could really help you out.
Wishing you the best of health!
Hi Dawn,
Great information. It’s a good thing that I love sea salt. Thanks so much for linking at Adorned From Above’s Link Party last week. This weeks party is opened.
Debi @ Adorned From Above
http://www.adornedfromabove.com
This is a great post! I always talk about this but never give details! I will definitely share it. Thanks for posting on Natural Living Monday. I can’t Wait to see what you have to share this week! http://wp.me/p2pBvv-AQ
Great post! In fact, I liked it so much that I chose it as my pick for featured post in tomorrow’s Barn Hop. Keep up the great work!!
Awesome, thanks!
I came upon this post through the Backyard Farming Hop #3 and am so glad I did! I just switched to Celtic sea salt myself and have noticed a difference, certainly in richness of flavor, but also in how the meal sits with me. I’m glad to read all of the benefits and am very glad to have switched! Thanks for the excellently written and researched article. I’m going to check out the rest of the blog!
So glad you found us, Heather! Isn’t Celtic sea salt just yummy? I hope you’ll stick around and join us on Small Footprint Fridays with your sustainable living posts!
Hey, I’ve just discovered this website and am very interested. I have resisted the sea salt idea based on salt is salt, but now I am having second thoughts. I do have a question however, since I have hypothyroidism I’ve been told iodine is an essential nutrient. I live in a very rural area where a lot of the items you speak of are not available. I didn’t see iodine mentioned in the mineral or contensts of sea salt. What is your opinion of this?
Iodine is an essential nutrient, but neither iodized salt nor sea salt provide enough of it by a long shot. The tiny traces of iodine in iodized salt are only high enough to keep people from getting a goiter—which is a major deficiency. The actual recommended amount of iodine that everyone needs to be healthy is substantially higher than what is available in iodized salt, and most people get enough by eating a diverse whole food diet that includes lots of sea vegetables, seafood, and whole milk yogurt, eggs, and strawberries. If you have a health condition that might require a more reliable measure of iodine, your best bet is to add a good quality iodine supplement like Lugol’s or Iodoral. I take Lugol’s iodine to support my own thyroid, along with plenty of sea salt for the other essential trace minerals and electrolytes.
Thanks, I’ll look into that.
Lovely article. I’ll be passing this along to my not-so-healthy-eating friends! We started using pink Himalayan salt and it blew my husband’s mind that it was so good for you!
You are speaking my language. I have been trying to get people to accept this truth for a few years now. I even had a conversation with a “nutrionalist” that had no clue there was a difference between table salt and sea salt. It is very frustrating to hear the war on salt when that is not the issue. The human body actually needs a lot of salt, just not bad salt. Thanks so much for the post.
LOVE IT! Have you read Salted by Mark Bitterman. It’s a huge, and beautiful book. It’s a perfect coffee table book. I loved looking at all the photos of salt. I switched over to “sea salt” over 10 years ago, but about 3 years ago found out that even that can be refined with added iodine. I needed pure sea salt so I am testing out a ton of various kinds and love it. Buying salt has become a new hobby. I usually get mine from the Asian stores and get the Korean brand. I was excited to get the orange stuff from Hawaii. Costco randomly has a great sampler pack.
Here’s the link to the book: http://www.amazon.com/Salted-Manifesto-Essential-Mineral-Recipes/dp/1580082629
I must this is very informative post about salt. I never thought we can use other than white salt in our food which can be healthy as well as with good taste. After reading your post , now I can figure out which salt to buy for staying healthy and which to avoid.
I love Himalayan sea salt and get mine from Sustainable Sourcing https://secure.sustainablesourcing.com as I love their products and business ethics.
Very thorough post, thank you for doing the research and taking the time to compile it. I’ve just started making the changes for my family and it can be very overwhelming at times! I appreciate your help.
What a great, great, great post!
You have clearly done your research and did a fantastic job of distilling it into a concise post. Thanks!
I personally really like RealSalt but think I may branch out and get some other sea salt varieties as well. I think good salt is one of the few things it is 100% OK to import into your food system (some spices being another).
Have you ever read the book Salt by Mark Kurlansky? I think you’d love it! It’s non-fiction but very story driven. It’s the world history of salt! Really, really neat book.
Thanks Alyss! I use RealSalt in cooking sometimes, but really prefer the Celtic Sea Salt for table usage. Sea salts from different areas have different flavors that, like honey or wine varietals, are fun to experiment with.
I haven’t read Salt, but I will have to check it out. Thanks for the recommendation!!
Very good write up on Salt. We made the switch on salts over a year ago. Using Redmond’s Real Salt. We get a nice balance using it whether in food or a shaker. What I found with the change is we don’t have that craving for more and more salt as we did using commercialized salts such as Morton or any of the generic brands. Now when I eat food that is prepared for others that haven’t changed I notice the difference big time. Their food is over salted even if it’s the exact same amount of food of salt added to the recipe. There’s a vast difference between 1 tsp. of commercialized salt and REAL SALT whether it be Redmond’s, Sea Salt or Celtic, etc…
Thanks Pamela! I’ve had a similar experience with table salt since making the switch. There is something kind of chemical-tasting about refined salt to me now. Hopefully that means my Real Food palate has been refined, instead of my food!
Wow, what an amazing post on salt. Thanks for writing this.
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