FEBRUARY 8: MAKE THE SWITCH FROM TABLE SALT TO SEA SALT

29 Days to a Healthier Heart

Sea salt is salt obtained from the evaporation of seawater and salt is composed of a diverse mixture of salt ions, such as sodium chloride, sulfate, magnesium, calcium, potassium, bicarbonate, bromide, borate, and strontium, providing your body with essential nutrients and trace minerals. Sea salt is reputed to exhibit many healing properties; regulates blood pressure, improves asthma, allergies, and nasal congestion, acts as an effective antibiotic, treats skin conditions, regulates body pH, and so on. Though more studies need to be done before we’ll know the truth about the healing benefits of sea salt, it makes biological and poetic sense that salt from the sea is healthier for us, since we evolved from the sea in the first place!

Table salt, however, is composed almost entirely of sodium chloride. It is more heavily processed and contains additives, such as aluminum, (called an ‘anti-caking agent’) to prevent clumping. Iodized salt, is another form of table salt, composed of sodium iodide. Though it is true that a certain amount of iodine is necessary for healthy thyroid function and as such, sodium iodide can be helpful in cases of hypothyroidism caused by iodine deficiency (goiter), too much iodine can result in the same problem, so caution must be taken with its use.

Check out www.selsi.ca – a great place to buy sea salt in Toronto!

-Karen Hack, BHSc, ND