Salt debate: less salt or real salt?

Complex nutritional issue

Biochemist Jacques de Langre, author of Seasalt’s Hidden Powers and Sea Salt, the Vital Spark for Life, points out that natural, real salt is one of the most complex substances on the planet but also one of the most desecrated and misunderstood of our food treasures. He adds that real salt is a food packed with essential minerals and trace elements necessary for life while table salt is not. Table salt as we know it is not real salt but an industrial by-product, sodium chloride, left over after having stripped real salt of all its natural, healthy nutrients. In real salt, 84 buffering elements protect us from the harshness of pure sodium chloride, the main ingredient of table salt, a salt which should be used as little as possible or not at all, advises de Langre. The issue at stake here is, however, not using less salt but using real salt!

Where did this all start?

The history of natural, real salt dates back many centuries. The sea was the ultimate source of all salt and both the Egyptians and the Greeks used salt as a way to keep food fresh as well as a disinfectant and essential ingredient in many of their medical remedies. To this day salt is still harvested from current oceans, dead seas or ancient sea beds.

Unfortunately, salt became a necessity for chemical manufacturing and a raw material for many products during the modern age. Salt, obtained cheaply from land locked sources was refined and chemically cleaned and bleached, stripping away most of its nutritional value. What was left was pure sodium chloride (table salt), an unwholesome substance with many disadvantages. These include the ability to change the body’s chemical structure causing an imbalance in our pH levels and the formation of excess acidity and fluid in body tissue. Adding preservatives such as iodine, although beneficial to the thyroid, has triggered allergic and intolerance reactions in some.

Real salt is essential to life

Natural real salt has many nutritional and health advantages. It is packed with minerals and trace elements that your body needs to stay healthy and function normally. Salt is part and parcel of the amniotic fluid in the uterus where life begins, it’s in your blood, sweat and tears; in fact, you have at least a cup full of salt in your body at any given time. It helps to regulate the fluid balance in your body, is involved in transmitting electrical pulses between your vital organs, carries carbon dioxide to your lungs and helps your body to get the maximum nutritional value from the food you eat.

So what’s the debate about?

The debate is about the link between salt and blood pressure! We have been told for ages that a high-salt diet will elevate blood pressure and cause strokes and heart attacks and a low-salt diet will do the opposite. Recent research findings have, however, indicated that in most cases this is not 100% true and that a low-salt diet may actually cause, not prevent, heart disease. Noted researchers point out that in some studies low-salt diets caused not only an increase in deaths from heart disease but also a rise in LDL cholesterol levels. They caution that the underlying reasons for hypertension are complex and varied and that lifestyle changes such as losing weight, quitting smoking, and eating a healthy diet may be more relevant to preventing hypertension than a low-salt diet. They also point out that most of the salt-hypertension-link studies were conducted using table salt (sodium chloride) and not natural real salt.

Which way to go?

Switching to real, high quality, natural, salt and considerably reducing the intake of refined table salt should be the first step taken.

Beware, however, of inferior salts labelled as “sea salt”; many have been industrially processed (refined) and stripped of their minerals. Refined sea salt is usually very dry, white and runny while real sea salt is moist; an indication that it has not been stripped of its magnesium, a water-hugging molecule.

The following are two of a variety of better options:

1. Crystal salt. Crystal salt mined from deep within Himalayan salt mines comes highly recommended by naturopaths and other health professionals. What makes this salt special is that it contains 84 minerals and a perfect balance of magnesium, potassium, calcium and sodium in a size and form that our bodies can accommodate and process safely.
2. Celtic salt. Celtic salt produced in France, hailed as the most natural and healthy salt in the world, contains 92 minerals, trace elements and macro-nutrients. The Celtic process of drying the sea salt with the help of the sun and the wind produces biologically active, pure, moist salt without any chemicals or preservatives.

Secondly, balancing your salt intake is important; not too much but also not too little especially during the hot summer season when you lose salt through sweat. Remember that drinking more water without replacing the salt lost through sweat can impact negatively on blood plasma and even cause death.

Thirdly, reading labels will help you reduce your intake of processed foods that are high in hidden sodium and other preservatives. So, do your homework and limit your intake of these foods. The choice is yours to make!

 

Sources
Biser, S. Sam Biser Interviews Jacques de Langre. Retrieved from: http://www.seventhwaveuk.com/content/31-sam-biser-interviews-jacques-de-langre.
Making Sense on Salt and Salt Awareness Week. Retrieved from: http://www.seventhwaveuk.com/content/30-making-sense-on-salt-and-salt-awareness-week.
Merson, S. 2009. Salt: the pros and the cons. Retrieved from: http://www.foodsmatter.com/allergy_intolerance/miscellaneous/articles/salt.html.
Stakel, K. Lower salt intake may cause (not prevent) heart disease. Retrieved from: http://www.organicauthority.com/health/lower-salt-consumption-may-cause-not-prevent-heart-related-deaths.html.