The simple truth about sea salt may surprise you. It does not cause high blood pressure and the host of ills for which it salt is blamed. Most of the bad reputation of salt is based on the premise that a high sodium intake creates high blood pressure, which can lead to heart attacks and arterial and kidney problems.
Common table salt is high in sodium. But sodium is essential for proper absorption of other major nutrients and functioning of nerves and muscles, as well as being necessary for balancing water and minerals in the body.
The truth about sea salt is that it has the balance and integrity found in natural substances. This balance and integrity extends the benefits of salt.
Understanding sodium
Not long ago there were unpublicized studies that strongly questioned the prior research that found sodium was hazardous, as well as the low recommended maximum sodium intake that was based on that research. For example, one study in New York conducted over several years on hypertension-prone local residents showed that those with low sodium intakes had four times as many heart attacks as those who had high sodium diets!
And now some MDs and several nutritionists claim that the right type of salt, unrefined, has many more health benefits than health hazards.
A major confusion is that only refined commercial or household salt is known as salt to most of medical science, medical practitioners, and consumers. Refined salt, stripped of its balancing natural mineral structure, is virtually nothing but sodium. As a matter of fact, it is 99% sodium. That is why it is called Sodium Chloride.
Processed foods are laced with Sodium Chloride (refined salt) as well as other types of sodium, such as sodium benzoate, sodium nitrate, and the nefarious monosodium glutamate (MSG). This makes cutting back or completely cutting out processed foods the best way to keep sodium chloride levels from getting too high.
The processing of refined sodium chloride into commercial table salt, involves the use of aluminum, cyanide and bleach. These are all toxic materials that your body takes up when you use refined, commercial salt. And processing removes almost all the vital minerals that pure unrefined salt has to offer, the minerals that balance the sodium in salt.
Sure, one or two servings of refined salt won’t send you to the grave. But continued daily use will expose you to the dangers of aluminum toxicity. Ferro cyanide is listed by the EPA as toxin for human consumption. It’s no mystery to anyone how harmful chlorine bleach consumption is.
According to Dr. David Brownstein, author of Salt Your Way to Health, unprocessed salt is an excellent detoxification aid, as well as a provider of mineral nutrients in an easily assimilated balance.
Some of the major minerals included with unprocessed salt are: magnesium (a very essential metabolic agent), calcium, potassium, and sulfate. Obviously, sodium is present also, but it comprises only 50% of the total mineral content rather than the 99% of processed table salt.
Regular refined consumer table salt sometimes has iodine added as a supplement. Dr. Brownstein has devoted a good deal of his practice and research to thyroid and glandular health. He says there is less iodized salt now than before, and the amount of iodine in iodized salt is insufficient for optimum thyroid health, anyway.
Iodine is an important agent for glandular health, and it is scarcely present in our food anymore. That is, unless you eat a lot of seafood.
Dr. Brownstein strongly advocates the use of unrefined, organic salt with iodine supplements, preferably a combination of potassium iodide and iodine, such as Iodoral. He maintains that these two dietary items, iodine and unrefined salt, contribute largely toward optimum endocrine health, which is vital for a strong immune system.
How to Choose Your Salt
Unrefined salt has a distinctively different look from refined salt. It is usually too coarse to be used in salt shakers, and it is often not pure white. Off white is more common, as well as pink for Himalayan salt and gray for Celtic salt and others.
The extreme white of common household or commercial salt is a result of bleaching. But buyer beware, some so-called sea salts offered online and in health food stores are at least partially processed. As a rule of thumb, stay away from sea salt that is too white and too fine.
If you are very concerned about getting the best product and you don’t know who to trust, look for organic certification. Since salt is mined or taken from salt water beds, the term organic has different implications than it does for fruit, vegetables, and animal products.
But there are standards and they are strict. Two reliable groups that certify salt as organic are BIO-GRO of New Zealand, and Nature & Progres’ of France.
So it appears that organically produced, unrefined salt is actually healthy. It offers bio-available balanced minerals that aren’t naturally present in our food chain. It does not contain the poisons of industry that are contained in refined salt.
“But too much sodium is unhealthy”, you may argue. Well no, not really. Sodium that is in balance with the minerals in which it is naturally found is not unhealthy. In fact, it is health promoting. But the excessive unbalanced sodium of processed salt and other food additives containing sodium should be curbed by eliminating processed foods from the diet.
By following Dr. David Brownstein’s advice, using organic, unrefined salt according to your taste and supplementing with iodine, one’s immune system can be boosted enjoyably and economically.
