18/01/2025
*Salt vs Sea Salt
The effect of salt on body chemistry is not well understood. Most of us believe that salt is bad for our health and that we need to reduce our intake of it. However, this isn’t exactly true. While refined salt is bad for us, sea salt in its natural form is actually beneficial. And since potassium is the regulator of sodium chloride (salt), it’s when our potassium/sodium ratio is out of balance that salt is detrimental.
Sea salt (in its natural, unrefined form) has been considered essential for good health for aeons. In the sixth century, merchants traded it with the equivalent value of gold. Salt was used as payment to Roman soldiers, which is where we get the word salary. For centuries the French were required to buy their salt from royal despots; the tax was so high that it helped ignite the French Revolution. In 1930, in protest against the high tax imposed on salt in India by the British Government, Mahatma Gandhi led a mass pilgrimage of his followers to the seaside to make their own salt (which was an illegal act according to British law).[iv] If salt was so important to our health back then, why is it so unpopular today? Over-processing has changed a natural, necessary element into a chemical, synthetic imitation.
Over 80 years ago, salt manufacturers sped up production by drying salt in huge kilns which could reach temperatures of 1,200 degrees. This process not only changes the chemical structure of salt, but also completely eliminates about 4 percent of its mixed trace mineral content. In fact, over 60 trace minerals are virtually wiped out by the processing. What’s left is a chemical structure of about 99.5 percent sodium chloride, to which anti-caking chemicals, potassium iodide and dextrose (sugar) are added to stabilize the iodine. The result is a new chemical structure, which corporations label as salt, but in reality is an entirely different component—one that doesn’t agree with the body.[v]
As I already mentioned, the amount of salt retained in our bodies is primarily controlled by the metabolic action of potassium in relationship to sodium, known as the sodium/potassium ratio. When the ratio is balanced, the body retains the amount of salt it requires and discards the rest. When this balance is not maintained, then salt (sodium chloride) can cause health problems.
Potassium is a nutrient essential to our health, but is rarely found in processed foods. Furthermore, foods such as coffee, alcohol, candy and sweets deplete potassium supplies in our body. Eating refined foods that are high in sodium with little to no potassium strongly contributes to high blood pressure, cardiovascular problems and degenerative diseases. To summarize, eating sodium chloride in place of natural, unprocessed salt and depleting our potassium levels causes the health problems that are blamed on too much salt!
Unrefined sea salt, on the other hand, is quite beneficial in reasonable quantities. It’s still a good idea to read the labels for salt content, even on natural food products. Unrefined sea salt (which has a gray hue) contains approximately 4 percent trace minerals—a profile similar to that of our blood (hence its popularity and value for thousands of years). Sea salt has a purifying effect on toxic residues in foods; it strengthens digestion and contributes to the secretion of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. Sea salt also helps build the immune system. Most diseases gain foothold in an acidic body, and sea salt helps to neutralize that condition by making us more alkaline. As I said, about 60 trace minerals are found in sea salt. Interestingly, vitamins cannot work properly without minerals.
Sea salt also contributes to solid mental health and emotional stability. Whereas refined sugar (and sweets in general) has an overly expansive effect on consciousness (known as “yin” in Oriental medicine), sea salt—because of its mineral content—has a very grounding effect (known as “yang” in Oriental medicine). [See Chapter 5 for a more detailed discussion of the yin/yang concept and of acid/alkaline conditions in the body.]
Avoid refined salt entirely, both at home and in packaged goods—it’s just not good for you. Using sea salt and eating unrefined, whole, organic foods—which contain large quantities of potassium—is good for you. You can buy unrefined sea salt at natural foods stores. Look for larger crystals that are a little gray in color. If they aren’t gray, the salt may have been processed to some degree. Another excellent source of sea salt is seaweed. My favorite seaweed to add to soups and other cooked meals is dulse. It has a mild flavor and is a great source for sea salt and minerals.
Larry Cook
*Excerpt from my book, The Beginner's Guide to Natural Living
3:06 AM · Jan 18, 2025
·
