There’s a nice growing business of boutique salts being sold at Whole Foods Market and other high end stores. They come in different colors and granule sizes. They look really good on display.
But are celebrity sea salts any healthier than their lowly brethren, table salts?
According to a recent survey by the American Heart Association:
Sixty-one percent of respondents incorrectly agreed that sea salt is a low-sodium alternative to table salt. Kosher salt and most sea salt are chemically the same as table salt (40 percent sodium), and they count the same toward total sodium consumption. Read more…
What you need to know:
Salt is salt. Sodium (Na, 40%) and Chlorine (Cl, 60%).
Sodium is the problem. We are consuming way too much of it. The excess sodium in our diet leads to hypertension, high blood pressure, and ultimately heart disease.
Sea salt comes from the sea, table salt is mined from places that used to be oceans and dried up millions of years ago.
Sea salt does contain traces of additional minerals (0.01% of things like magnesium) but they do not lessen the impact of the sodium consumption.
Even if the minerals in a given sea salt are important nutrients for the body, why take them with all the added salt? Why not from other naturally occurring sources in food?
What to do at the supermarket:
If you want to server pretty sea salt during a meal, go for it. But it is not healthier.