Is sea salt healthier than table salt? | Nourishable Raw Episode 13
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- Опубліковано 16 лип 2024
- Sea salt is perceived as a natural healthy alternative to table salt, but is this health halo deserved? Subscribe to Nourishable at / nourishable
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Opening Motion Graphics by Jay Purugganan www.c9studio.com/WP/
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The differences between sea salt and table salt are due to how they’re processed. Table salt is mined from salt caves, ground up into teeny crystals and processed to remove other minerals. Table salt can be fortified with the mineral iodine. Sea salt is evaporated from ocean and sea water. The sodium chloride crystals are larger and it is not processed to remove other minerals, so it has variable levels of calcium and magnesium.
The biggest difference is the texture and taste, with the giant sea salt crystals giving a crunch and concentrated salty flavour versus the teeny table salt crystals that dissolve more evenly in food.
While the sea salt does contain some minerals that are essential for health, like calcium and magnesium, the amounts are negligible. You’d have to eat an enormous about of sea salt to get any relevant intake of these minerals. So from the trace mineral perspective, sea salt is equivalent to table salt.
There could be important differences in the amount of iodine though. Back in the late 1800s there were regions across the US with severe iodine deficiency. Iodine is necessary to produce thyroid hormone which regulates metabolism. When there isn’t enough iodine, the thyroid gland will continue to try and produce TH, causing a goiter. Iodine deficiency is even more problematic for pregnant women. TH is critical during fetal development and can lead to irreversible neurological impairments in their kids. Fortification of salt with iodine in the 1920s prevented iodine deficiency and is considered a major public health accomplishment.
These days, major dietary sources of iodine are dairy and eggs, seafood and seaweed. Seaweed components like carrageenan and agar are used as thickeners and stabilizers in lots of processed food. Sea salts have negligible levels of iodine. There isn’t really great data on whether switching to sea salt reduces iodine intake in a relevant way. It could be prudent to talk to your personal physician about iodine intake if your diet lacks other iodine sources. Both table salt and sea salt contain the same amount of sodium by weight. It is critical to pay attention to how much sodium you’re eating. Although sodium is an essential nutrient for regulating fluid balance and sending nerve impulses, eating too much sodium increases blood pressure leading to hypertension - which is a silent but deadly risk factor for cardiovascular disease, stroke and kidney disease.
Americans eat FAR too much sodium, on average around 3500mg/day. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends a max of 2300mg/day, and the American Heart Association promotes an even lower max of 1500mg. The tricky thing about reducing sodium intake is that it is already added to packaged, prepared and restaurant foods in high amounts. Foods contributing the most sodium to the diet are cold cuts, breads and rolls, pizza, chicken and soup. To reduce sodium intake, shift towards minimally processed home-cooked whole foods or go for low sodium versions of packaged food. There aren’t any major health differences between sea salt and table salt. Just because sea salt is more “natural”, doesn’t mean it deserves a health halo. It’s really more of a preference - if you like the texture and flavour pop of the larger sea salt crystals then go for it. Whether it is sea salt or table salt, the most important factor is reducing overall sodium intake.
References
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2...
www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-li...
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/di...
www.heart.org/en/healthy-livi...
www.heart.org/en/healthy-livi...
Images: OpenStax Anatomy and PhysiologyOpenStax [CC BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/...)]
What about Himalayan salt???
Thanks for the video
Thanks for sharing 👍
Hey Dr. Laura whats the best way to get your days worth of potassium?.
Watch Dr Ekberg on it.
I eat way too much salt and sugar but they taste good and are easier on my stomach than other flavors
What lake is in the background?
@xaviercruz Peyto Lake in my home province of Alberta!
Sooo if you eat salt; also eat flaxseed!
You forgot about the heavy metals that contaminate sea salt from industrial pollution and the microplastics in sea salt from all the plastic that finds it's way to the ocean. Himalayan salt has been found to contain Mercury, Lead and Aluminium to name a few. Table salt is the purest. Stripped of impurities.
Hmm interesting @RobertYahir,, I hadn't considered that. The questions I would ask are what levels of contamination are there in the various types of salt, how much exposure would you get given the amount of salt consumed, and is exposure to these heavy metals through consumption (as opposed to respiration, dermal, etc) relevant for measureable health outcomes. The dose makes the poison! I would have to do some digging to know - do you have any references that would shed light on these questions?
@@Nourishable Their are some videos on UA-cam on the subject but it's not extensive. Their have been studies done you'll have to research. From what I can see table salt is probably the least contaminated and the extra processing is a good thing. Most people commit the naturalistic fallacy when they claim unprocessed salt is better. Most of those minerals are actually contaminants like Lead,Mercury and Aluminium.
@@Nourishable As for the dose making the poison. Years of eating poison will cause it to bio-accumulate in your body. So considering what a lifetime of ingesting contaminated salt can do will heavy metals which can't exit the body as the is no mechanism to eliminate them.
most of what you say is nice but unfortunate wrong, salt only natural should be, with=out any additive, himalayan is the best salt, if you some how increased the intake of sodium, then you have to increase potassium intake to lower your blood presser caused by too much sodium, those refined salt is poison and not a good source of sodium chloride as well they heated and any more sodium chloride they are sodium only. be care full salt is essential for life and electricity in your cells and brain, without salt no life, but again go for natural rock salt, most of the salt coming from sea is having toxins dissolved from plastic, this is another reason to take care from sea salt, it should be pure from any trace, and those only could found in rock salt, the sodium chloride is 98% remaining is very low level of vitamins which you should not rely on it google what is the e535, e536 then you will know how bad is the refined salt that cause inflammations, your body need 2000 mg -2400 mg salt maximum increment is better than deficiency, most of athletes were dying coz of water after comma they lose all remaining minerals and electrolytes in the body, now they discovers they have to check sodium level before any water given. salt is important for immune system without salt your body cannot fight bacteria and pathogens, that helping the immune system to develop hydrogen peroxide a foam which kills all bad bacteria / germs and kick out from the body in shape of mucus, the battle results is too much mucus
Dr laura you dont got a clue about salt !