Conflicting claims and long-held beliefs regarding  sodium, salt and health are emerging from a tide of recent sea salt popularity, and concerns about excessive sodium and health. There are at least a hundred different kinds of sea salt in today's marketplace. Natural sea salt is in vogue, a preferred favorite among food aficionados and world renowned chefs.  The health conscience recognize natural sea salt as an alternative to refined table salt and a natural source of balanced mineral elements. Chefs love the taste, and nutritionists appreciate the numbers!

We've provided interesting and reasonable facts that challenge a few common beliefs about salt, sodium and health. After reading, decide for yourself if natural sea salt belongs in your diet.

Is  there really is a difference between unrefined sea salt and ordinary, refined Table Salt.   Yes and no. 

A 'salt'  can be at least two elements chemically bonded into minerals. Typically, the salt we associate with food is primarily sodium chloride (NaCl), which remains, as a simple mineral, unchanged whether refined or unrefined. The percent of NaCl in a refined salt compared to unrefined salt, however, does change. And it can change quite a bit.

While there is no international standard for sea salt, there is a standard for food grade salt. It is the Codex Alimentarius Standard agreed upon by all countries. The critical part of this standard is that food grade salt, regardless of where it comes from, be it sea salt, rock salt or evaporated table salt, must contain a minimum of 97 percent sodium chloride, NaCl.

What's the big to-do over unrefined salt? 

Table Salt is refined salt.  Refining removes impurities and improves its appearance. The refining process can actually extract 82 of the 84 mineral elements found in natural sea salt. Refining may also use a chemical bleaching process to make the salt whiter.  A refined salt contains 99.70 to 99.95% NaCl. 

Unrefined sea salt typically maintains the "mineral-elements balance" naturally occurring in the original salt. By comparison to ordinary table salt, the percent of NaCl in unrefined salt is significantly lower.  For example, NaCl accounts for 70% -75.4% of Kona Sea Salt^TM while the balance is made up of mineral elements, many essential to human health.

Please see the Essential Trace and Macro Elements Comparison chart in this website for a percentage breakout of some mineral elements analyzed in Kona Sea Salt^TM, and the NaCl percentages.

What else is there to know about differences in salts?

Unrefined salt: Characteristically, nothing is removed from the original salt. Unrefined salts are not a good source for iodine because of this. Unrefined salts can contain flavors, spices and herbs, charcoal, mineral clays, and other unique additives to create specialty salts.  Additionally, natural sea salts have a high moisture content and  attract moisture. Keeping it protected in air tight containers can help prevent "clumping" - a characteristic of a good natural sea salt. 

Refined salt:  Refined salt looks great, flows easily, and crystals are uniform in size - all the result of  the addition of anti-caking, free flowing, bleaching, and/or conditioning agents.  These agents make up the remaining percentage of refined salt; they are not to be confused with essential mineral elements removed as "impurities" from the salt in its natural form.  Refining agents can include sodium ferrocyanide, ammonium citrate, and aluminum silicate.

According to a report on www.curezone.com, "The additives which prevent the refined salt from absorbing water while it is in the box, also prevent the refined salt from being properly absorbed in your body. This is why we are constantly being told that it is harmful to health to consume too much salt."

Iodine and iodine stabilizers are also added to refined salt. It is an essential element in  human health, and is added to refined salt to support thyroid function and help prevent goiter.⁽¹⁾   The amount of iodine that is added to refined salt, approximately 0.01 percent, may not, however, be sufficient to optimize thyroid functioning and meet the body's other iodine needs. ⁽²⁾ 

(1), (2)http://www.vrp.com/articles.aspx?ProdID=1835S, Dr. David Brownstein, MD

Do Salt and Hypertension go hand-and-hand? (And a few other salty health facts)  

There are two very general and different schools of thought regarding the benefits of reducing salt intake to improve human cardiovascular health, particularly hypertension: 

• Reducing salt intake can prevent and/or reduce hypertension, and

• Study results of salt-restricted diets and low or reduced salt intake, have not been accurately interpreted; the salt-hypertension association is not as significant as purported.
  

 There is agreement among both sides, however, that sodium content should not exceed: 2000 to 2300 mg a day.  Currently, the average person takes in 4000 mg of sodium a day.  According to Dr. Mehmet Oz, Director, Cardiovascular Institute, New York Prebyterian/Columbia, "...That raises blood pressure by 40/20 mm/Hg in some people, making their Real Ages 9 to 12 years older from salt".
 
A very intelligent discussion on interpretations of human-study findings regarding health and salt consumption may be found at: Issues-in-focus/Food-salt-health/Other-health-outcomes

It's No Surprise! Not All Sea Salts are Created Equal , Either

Salt and sodium are often used interchangeably in discussions regarding food grade salts. However, many sea salts come in well below the qualifier for Food Grade's 97% sodium chloride content in the Codex Alimentarius standard. Kona Sea Salt,^TM for example, contains up to 48% less sodium  than ordinary table salt and some other sea salts - this is well below table salt's 40% sodium.

Using food grade sea salt in recipes and on the table does not assure that you are reducing sodium in your diet.  Comparing only refined salt to natural sea salt can be very misleading because of the Codex Alimentarius standard defining food grade. The standard does not account for mineral elements that make up the remaining content of natural sea salt.   Again, using Kona Sea Salt^TM as a comparison, independent analyses revealed that not only does this salt contain up to 48% less sodium than refined table salt, it has 25% more essential mineral elements than ordinary table and food grade salts.

Read your labels on all salts before you buy to ensure you are getting salt with a lower sodium content than ordinary, food grade table salts - and this applies to natural sea salts, too.