Salt

Man has been harvesting and trading salt for over 2,000 years. The Phoenicians were the first to harvest it, and at that time salt was more expensive than gold. Ancient highways have been created to trade it, horses and cows love their salt-licks, and no household is without it.

What is it about salt? Why do we crave it so? Could it be true that we actually need it to live?

Salt - the Good and the Bad

“Table Salt”

There are many different types and colours of salt, and they are not all the same.  Regular ‘Table Salt’ is white, fine, and has a plain, strong salty taste. It is mined then refined to remove all of the trace minerals leaving pure sodium chloride (NaCl). The extracted minerals are then sold separately to industry and return more profit than the salt itself.

In my view, this is an inorganic, man-made chemical compound, and not a naturally occurring mineral-rich food.

In Australia, the most common additive is sodium aluminium silicate (number 554) used as a free-flowing / anti-caking agent. Aluminium is known or suspected to cause many diseases including Alzheimer’s, osteoporosis, digestive disorders and breast cancer. I strongly recommend you do not use it. Remember that this is the salt that will be used in most foods you buy that have salt already added.

On the topic of aluminium, it is also the main ingredient in most commercial underarm deodorants which are applied right over the lymph nodes that drain the upper outer quadrant of the breast where most breast cancer is found. I strongly recommend you do not use deodorants containing aluminium.

Table salt is 98% sodium chloride (NaCl) and 2% additives.

Table salt plays no part in a healthy diet.

Sea Salt

Sea salt of course comes from the sea and contains many, many minerals as well as sodium and chloride. While the concentration of sea water varies from place to place on the planet, the mineral composition is remarkably consistent. It is only about 85% NaCl and other 15% is all sorts of other yummy health-giving minerals. The salt will taste different and have a somewhat different mineral makeup depending on how it is dried and collected.

A good sea salt is typically off-white and often hygroscopic (water absorbing).

Beware, some salt manufactures start with sea water then do all the same processing to make Table Salt then call it ‘sea salt’ anyway. It is often called ‘Grinder Salt’.

Celtic Sea Salt

Refers to salt that has been harvested with a 2,000 year old method using only wooden tools maintaining the moisture, minerals and integrity of the salt.

Celtic sea salt contains 85% sodium chloride and 15% rich mineral water; mineral water containing 80+ minerals from the ocean. It is available as coarse or fine salt. Use the coarse for cooking and fine at the table. Keep it in an air-tight container to maintain the moisture content.

Celtic sea salt has a sweet, complex, rich flavour. Try half a raw tomato with some sprinkled on the flesh and you will literally taste the mineral content! This salt is definitely part of a healthy, nutrient-rich diet.

French Sea Salt

French sea salts are harvested from Atlantic seawater. They are unrefined, so they retain more of the trace minerals that naturally occur in seawater. These minerals include natural iodine.

Himalayan Rock Salt

This is a commonly promoted pink coloured salt mined in the mountains of eastern Pakistan. It is naturally 99.5% NaCl. While not toxic, it does not have the many varied health benefits of sea salt.

Quote

“The cure for anything is salt – sweat, tears, or the sea.”

Isak Dinesen

How is Ocean Sea Salt Produced?

The ocean is allowed to flood huge, flat, shallow beds and then a dam is closed to trap the water. The water is then naturally evaporated by the sun & this leaves a layer of sea salt. Dirty brown salt is on the bottom and pretty white salt at the top.

Since most people are used to white salt, the maker will often just skim off the top white salt & call it “sea salt”. UNFORTUNATELY, the trace minerals are mostly in the brown stuff at the bottom.

Real ocean sea salt is produced from unseparated salt. That is why it is slightly darker.

Celtic Salt, Muramoto Salt and Lima Salt are examples.

There are many other great natural salts, including organic New Zealand sea salt and Queensland sea salt, that you can buy, each with their own unique flavour and character. Use a variety and enjoy the unique benefits of each.

Why is good salt important?

Salt assists with blood pressure regulation, cell acidity regulation, blood sugar balance, cellular energy production, nerve communication, colonic wall function, histamine control, prevention of muscle cramps, bone strength, sleep, libido, blood vessel wall integrity and prevention of gout.

In fact, without salt, the body gradually dehydrates until we die. Everyone today is so focused on lowering salt, they forget that it is actually necessary for life.

Some Salt Facts

1. In 1869 there was a customs line stretching 3700 km across India guarded by 12,000 men to stop trade of untaxed salt. Salt was heavily taxed by the British India Company.
2. In 1930, Gandhi’s protest started over the excessive salt taxes.
3. This is why salt used to be valued in some places the same as gold.
4. All modern medical rehydration fluids are mostly salt plus water.
5. In the middle ages people were put to a horrible death by salt deprivation.
6. No two substances in the Bible are mentioned more than water and salt.
7. The environment of an unborn baby is water and salt.
8. Salt hunger is not related to salt need. This is why we tend to eat so much.
9. The body cannot store excess salt for more than a few days.
10. Breathing air over salt (using a salt pipe) can be used to relieve asthma.

Research on Salt in the Diet

10 big scientific studies looking at the effect of salt in the diet:

1. A ten-year study of 8000 Hawaiian Japanese men concluded: “No relation was found between salt intake and the incidence of stroke.” They also found that higher protein and fat intakes were protective against stroke. (1985)¹
2. An eight-year study of 3000 New Yorkers with high blood pressure 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)²
3. A ten-year follow-up study to the huge Scottish Heart Health Study found no improved health outcomes for those on low-salt diets. They also found that high potassium intake was strongly protective. (1997)³
4. An analysis of the health outcomes, over twenty years, from those in the massive US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I) documented a 20% greater incidence of heart attacks among those on low-salt diets compared to normal-salt diets. (1998)⁴
5. A study of 14,000 Americans over 5 years found that low sodium diets did reduce the cardiovascular mortality of one population sub-set: the overweight. This study failed to adjust for potassium intake which is protective and typically very low in overweight people. (1999)⁵
6. A high-quality meta-analysis of clinical trials was published in the British Medical Journal confirming earlier conclusions that significant salt reduction would lead to very small blood pressure changes in sensitive populations and no health benefits. (2002)⁶
7. Repeating the work of study 4 above this time with 7000 people over 17 years, analysis of the NHANES II database in The American Journal of Medicine found a 37% higher cardiovascular mortality rate for low-sodium dieters. (2006)⁷
8. The Rotterdam Study attempted to find an association between sodium intake and cardiovascular disease studying 2500 people over 5 years. They concluded, “The effect of sodium intake on CVD morbidity and mortality in Western societies remains to be established.” (2007)⁸
9. A third repeat of the NHANES, NHANES III this time with almost 9000 participants again found no benefit to low sodium dieting. (2008)⁹
10. In stark contrast, researchers in California studied 900 people and tracked them over 12 years and found the group with the lowest potassium intake were up to 5 times more likely to have a stroke than those with the highest potassium intake.¹⁰

BUT

1. Excess NaCl consumption lowers body pH making us susceptible to cancer, infection, heart disease, osteoporosis, arthritis, polycystic ovarian disease and other degenerative diseases.^{11, 12}
2. Excess NaCl in the diet causes airway restriction which is a problem for people with asthma and for aerobic performance in athletes. (In contrast to breathing air over salt which relieves asthma.)¹³

So it seems that some people are sensitive to salt in that it raises their blood pressure and puts them at risk of heart attack and stroke, but those people are deficient in potassium which you find in abundance in vegetables and fruit. Other than that, study after (repeated) study show either no correlation or less heart disease and stroke in those who eat more salt.

My conclusion? Eat natural sea salt in generous moderation, but be sure to eat plenty of fresh vegetables and fruit.

Yours in Optimal Health,

Richard Sawyer.

Key Message

• There is good salt and there is bad salt.
• Commercial refined, bleached, white ‘table salt’ is a man-made chemical that is devoid of nutrients.
• ‘Table-salt’ commonly contains aluminium-silicate, a neurotoxin.
• Choose grey or otherwise naturally coloured salt with no additives. Avoid pure white salt.

Making It Real

1. Buy some natural sea-salt. We have some available at our online shop at the link here. Be comfortable paying a little extra for this quality, healthful salt.
2. Avoid refined salt. Don’t buy salt with chemical additives.
3. Don’t be afraid of some (good) salt. It is an essential part of your healthy diet.

References

1. Kagan A, Popper JS, Rhoads GG, Yano K. Dietary and other risk factors for stroke in Hawaiian Japanese men. Stroke; a journal of cerebral circulation. 1985;16(3):390-6. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4002255.

2. Alderman MH, Madhavan S, Cohen H, Sealey JE, Laragh JH. Low Urinary Sodium Is Associated With Greater Risk of Myocardial Infarction Among Treated Hypertensive Men Methods. 1995;5:1144-1152.

3. Tunstall-pedoe H, Woodward M, Tavendale R, Brook RA, Mccluskey MK. Comparison of the prediction by 27 different factors of coronary heart disease and death in men and women of the Scottish heart health study: cohort study. General Practice. 1997;729:722-729.

4. ALDERMAN M, COHEN H, MADHAVAN S. Dietary sodium intake and mortality: the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I). The Lancet. 1998;351(9105):781-785. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9519949.

5. He J. Dietary Sodium Intake and Subsequent Risk of Cardiovascular Disease in Overweight Adults. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association. 1999;282(21):2027-2034. Available at: http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/doi/10.1001/jama.282.21.2027.

6. Hooper L, Bartlett C, Smith GD, Ebrahim S. Systemeatic review of long term effects of advice to reduce dietary salt in adults. BMJ. 2002;325(September):1-9.

7. Cohen HW, Hailpern SM, Fang J, Alderman MH. Sodium intake and mortality in the NHANES II follow-up study. The American journal of medicine. 2006;119(3):275.e7-14. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16490476.

8. Geleijnse JM, Witteman JC, Stijnen T, et al. Sodium and potassium intake and risk of cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality: the Rotterdam Study. European journal of epidemiology. 2007;22(11):763-70. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17902026.

9. Cohen HW, Hailpern SM, Alderman MH. Sodium intake and mortality follow-up in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III). Journal of general internal medicine. 2008;23(9):1297-302. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18465175.

10. Khaw KT, Barrett-Connor E. Dietary potassium and stroke-associated mortality. A 12-year prospective population study. The New England journal of medicine. 1987;316(5):235-40. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3796701.

11. Frassetto La, Morris RC, Sebastian A. Dietary sodium chloride intake independently predicts the degree of hyperchloremic metabolic acidosis in healthy humans consuming a net acid-producing diet. American journal of physiology. Renal physiology. 2007;293(2):F521-5. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17522265.

12. Frassetto La, Morris RC, Sellmeyer DE, Sebastian A. Adverse effects of sodium chloride on bone in the aging human population resulting from habitual consumption of typical American diets. The Journal of nutrition. 2008;138(2):419S-422S. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18203914.

13. Mickleborough TD, Gotshall RW, Cordain L, Lindley M. Dietary salt alters pulmonary function during exercise in exercise-induced asthmatics. Journal of sports sciences. 2001;19(11):865-73. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11695508.