Rethink- Ordinary Table Salt or Unrefined Sea Salt

Manufacturers of many food items today boast that their products contain sea salt. Is thisrna claim worth making? Does sea salt provide benefits that ordinary table salt doesn’t? Many people also wonder whether it is important to buy salt that contains iodine.rnThese are all questions that I frequently hear from patients. I hope this article helpsrnClarify some of the issues and answer your questions. Ordinary table salt is a highly processed and bleached form of sodium chloride. MineralsrnThat are of benefit to your health, including zinc, iron and magnesium, are usuallyrnStripped away during processing. The natural taste of salt also is typically stripped awayrnDuring processing. In contrast, unrefined sea salt contains 40 or more minerals and trace elements that aren’trnfound in ordinary table salt. Often, our bodies are deficient in many of these minerals.rnPerhaps the most popular brand of unrefined sea salt is Celtic Sea Salt, harvested off therncoast of France. The methods used to harvest Celtic salt leave the beneficial minerals andrnthe natural taste intact. As many of you know, I enjoy cooking and have found that unrefined sea salts are muchrnmore flavorful than ordinary table salt is. Although unrefined salts also are morernexpensive than table salt, they are well worth the price. Keep in mind, however, that the term sea salt can refer to any salt that comes from thernsea. Some sea salts are refined and adulterated and may not be any better for your healthrnthan is ordinary table salt. This leads us to the question of iodine, a trace element that is essential to sustain life.rnYour body can’t manufacture iodine, so you must ingest it. One reason that this is criticalrnis that the thyroid hormone molecule is composed of iodine, and iodine deficiency mayrnproduce enlargement of the thyroid or goiter. In addition to thyroid disorders, iodinerndeficiency has been associated with chronic fatigue, autoimmune disorders, sinusrncongestion, cysts of the ovaries and breast, and various cancers (including breast,rnprostate, thyroid and ovarian). In recent generations, iodine deficiency has tended to occur largely only in developingrncountries; however, a resurgence of this once-common problem is occurring in developedrncountries as a result of decreased salt intake and the removal of iodine during commercialrnbread making. The problem historically has been less common in coastal areas, where iodine is plentifulrnin the soil, and rare in countries such as Japan, where intake of foods from the sea is high.rnSeafood and sea vegetables (such as seaweed) are the major natural dietary sources ofrniodine. As growing numbers of health-conscious consumers switch to sea salt, which isn’trncommonly fortified with iodine, the problem has grown in the United States and otherrndeveloped countries. As I predicted with vitamin D deficiency, you can expect to hearrnmore about iodine deficiency in coming years. One key reason salt intake has been on the decrease is that, for years, Americans havernbeen led to believe that dietary sodium can cause an increase in hypertension andrncardiovascular disease. Medical researchers today are finding that salt probably isn’t as harmful as we oncernbelieved. On the contrary, there might be some health benefits associated with intake ofrnunrefined sea salt. This doesn’t mean that unrestrained use of salt is a good idea. What itrnmeans is that, with a doctor’s guidance, you might rethink your use of salt. But berncareful what you buy. I recommend that you use an unrefined sea salt for cooking. A high-quality unrefined searnsalt is more flavorful than table salt and offers potential health benefits as well.rnHowever, you may need to take supplemental iodine. With guidance from your physician, you should be able to obtain sufficient iodine tornoffset the risk of health problems associated with iodine deficiency. A word of caution:rnExcessive iodine ingestion may cause problems with an overactive thyroid gland, alsornreferred to as hyperthyroidism.