Heavy Metal Concentrations In Gourmet Salts

[Birdie]

http://www.spexcertiprep.com/knowledge-base/files/AppNote_GourmetSalts.pdf

Here's a quote from Peatarian.com:

Salt
A friend had the celtic salt analyzed, and found it was high in toxic heavy metals. The pure white common salt is best.

That standard isn't very strict, but the salt is probably safe, if it's white. I usually use either La Baleine or Morton's canning and pickling salt.
.......

[Alternative sodium source] Baking soda in water is helpful for some people.

 

[Birdie]

I was interested in looking this up since RP has warned of heavy metals in salts such as sea salt.
Before finding this out, I enjoyed some gourmet salts such as a Fleur de Sel and a Pink Himalayan Salt.
Would love to take them up again if they aren't too awful, I thought.

I'm in the study stage...

 

[Birdie]

Darn, the Himalayan is high in cadmium.
So, but I wonder how much is bad. I don't know.

Looking at the ppm but not sure how to figure out whether, say a teaspoon a week would be even slightly toxic.
How much Cd would be absorbed from a teaspoon and all that.

So, a point against the Himalayan.

Overall, the darkest ones seem to have more heavy metals. Sorta makes sense.

 

[Blossom]

Just like you @Birdie I used to love to try all different types of boutique salts. I had a pure black sea salt once at a family gathering and I'd honestly HATE to know at this point what was in that stuff.

I also remember buying a moist grey celtic sea salt at the health food store years ago and it tasted pretty gross but of course I used it anyway because I thought it was good for me.

I'm in complete agreement with you on the issue of the cadmium in the Himalayan salt. IIRC cadmium can persist in the body for up to thirty years. No salt is worth that imo.

 

[Birdie]

Just like you @Birdie I used to love to try all different types of boutique salts. I had a pure black sea salt once at a family gathering and I'd honestly HATE to know at this point what was in that stuff.

I also remember buying a moist grey celtic sea salt at the health food store years ago and it tasted pretty gross but of course I used it anyway because I thought it was good for me.

I'm in complete agreement with you on the issue of the cadmium in the Himalayan salt. IIRC cadmium can persist in the body for up to thirty years. No salt is worth that imo.

Oh Blossom..

Back when I first encountered RP's warning about these salts, I looked into the various sea salts.
Think Ray mentioned the places where the salt is gathered and that those beaches are not the pristine ones we might think of.
That, too, is not encouraging is it!

I used to like the French Fleur de Sel or something like that. Flowers of salt floating on the sea sound romantic.
It was mild tasting, not sharp. Oh, sigh. When I visited my sister in Paris, we kept a little bag of it in the middle of the table.

If I do find one that comes up relatively pure, will get it for occasional use...

 

[Rafe]

I didn't want to give up Celtic sea salt for the purer pickling salt b/c I liked that mineral taste so much at first. But I made the switch eventually & now I don't miss it. And I'm using a lot more than I did at first. Thanks birdie for this link!

 

[John Frusciante]

La Baleine is sea salt. I think he considers sea salt safe as long as it was properly refined. Though I don't know how to check it, to be honest. Cannling and pickling salt is what he considers best, and the purest.

 

[Birdie]

I didn't want to give up Celtic sea salt for the purer pickling salt b/c I liked that mineral taste so much at first. But I made the switch eventually & now I don't miss it. And I'm using a lot more than I did at first. Thanks birdie for this link!

You're welcome. That's about how I felt when I made the switch.

So, now, everyone (outside here) thinks the unusual salts are super healthy. Well, not that most think salt healthy,
but for their very occasional use... Glad RP made me aware.

I started out using extra pinches of salt and the benefits I noticed were less bloating and more uninterrupted sleep.
Am back to using more since I slowly slipped back into old habits of just salting my food.

 

[Birdie]

La Baleine is sea salt. I think he considers sea salt safe as long as it was properly refined. Though I don't know how to check it, to be honest. Cannling and pickling salt is what he considers best, and the purest.

That's what I want for occasional use, a properly refined and low heavy metal sea salt.

I didn't remember that RP listed La Baleine as a possible choice in that Peatarian quote. Thanks for mentioning it, because then I read the quote again.

 

[John Frusciante]

I use Kosher Salt. It works well, no additives, and no heavy metals so far.

 

[Birdie]

So, I checked it out. The La Baleine website doesn't tell you the ingredients, but amazon does:
Sea salt, magnesia, anti caking agent, E-535.

I'm searching for the Kosher version which amazon doesn't carry.

The coarse La Baleine sea salt ingredients: salt.
Bought some at Safeway. Love the taste.

 

[Such_Saturation]

Minerals in Himalayan Pink Salt: Spectral Analysis | The Meadow

 

[Birdie]

I use Kosher Salt. It works well, no additives, and no heavy metals so far.

Me too. Mine is Diamond Crystal.

I just checked our Morton Coarse Kosher Salt.
Had noticed a bitter taste, btw, and it hasYellow Prussiate of Soda added.

 

[Birdie]

Minerals in Himalayan Pink Salt: Spectral Analysis | The Meadow

Oh boy. Fascinating what's found in that salt. Way beyond the simple thing my search yielded.

I wonder how many ppms of certain undesirable elements in salt can affect your health.
For example, a salt could contain a heavy metal in such a concentration that it wouldn't affect you even if you used it many years.

My husband said MBAs figure out these kinds of statistical problems.
Over my head.

 

[Birdie]

So, I don't find the spectral analysis for Fleur de Sel from France at The Meadow, but it's great all round for salt info.
The prices are over my head!

This was an interesting question asked on their Salt News:

Solar evaporation is a very old and common practice for making salt. But how do they keep stuff out of the ponds? Bird poop? Bugs? Dirt? Whatever else? It seems like creating something with that much exposed surface area is bound to get contaminants. I am hoping you can shed some light on these things for me. I haven’t been able to find any answers anywhere else on how salt production is kept clean. Michael Pollan writes about making brown salt from polluted water. Everyone writes about gathering crystals by hand, etc., but no one says anything about how salt is made clean.

Now to read the response...

 

[Birdie]

Couldn't find their answer to this question when I went back to the site...

 

[BibleBeliever]

Using this Himalayan salt amounts converter | Nutrition facts | Convert to units and culinary measures.

It shows the pink himalayan mountain salt having 1mg+ of iron per 1 gram of salt. Equating 10mg to 100% RDA value; I was consuming up to 20 grams of this salt a day before; thus 200% of my iron alone. It took a while, but I started to notice negative effects; I have switched to a plain sea salt and will try pickling salt soon and note differences.

Iron oxide is what gives the salt its pink colour. If it's red then it's even higher in iron. Very toxic iron levels.
I have also read reports about concerns of the salt being contaminated with fluoride as well.

The local dollar store here has begun to sell this salt in a grinder. I noticed the most negative effects with this pink salt, which was also had the most red granules. Another link stated that the pink salt is much more difficult for your kidneys to process rather than sea salt. I'm not sure if its true, but interesting to ponder.

 

[ecstatichamster]

I think sea salt is okay. I don't worry about bird poop etc. nothing can live in salt. I avoid rock salt. Rock salt can also contain heavy metals and radium.

 

[Such_Saturation]

http://naturallysavvy.com/eat/is-your-sea-salt-contaminated-with-plastic

 

[lollipop]

Is Your Sea Salt Contaminated With Plastic?

This is why I like this sea salt:

David Wolfe Foods Icelandic Flake Salt, 1 lb (454 g) | Longevity Warehouse