# Is there a salt substitute that taste like real salt ?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-salt-substitute-that-taste-like-real-salt/384692
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [December 18, 2006, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-salt-substitute-that-taste-like-real-salt/384692 "2006-12-18T21:29:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@justqwerty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justqwerty)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2006, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-salt-substitute-that-taste-like-real-salt/384692/1 "2006-12-18T21:29:35Z")
We do have sugar substitutes ( Canderel among others) that taste pretty much the same as the real McCoy,
why can’t I find anything similar for salt ?
Spices,herbs could be used instead of course but the taste would be different.
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### Author:  [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2006, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-salt-substitute-that-taste-like-real-salt/384692/2 "2006-12-18T21:35:17Z")
As someone who’s been on a low-sodium diet for a long time[sup]1[/sup], I can tell you that there is absolutely nothing that tastes like salt except…salt.
On the plus side, there are lots of other flavors that you can use instead of salt. The trick is to change your expectations of the way food tastes by changing the kinds of foods you eat altogether, rather than trying to make something familiar (and salty) taste good in a low-sodium version.
If you want tips, suggestions, etc. I’d be happy to help you out. My e-mail’s in my profile.
[sup]1[/sup]I don’t follow the diet as closely as I used to, because there’s not as much need for it now, as far as I can tell. But I’ve found that my tastes have changed. Unless I’m really craving salt, there are an awful lot of things I used to love eating that now taste far too salty for me!
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### Author:  [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2006, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-salt-substitute-that-taste-like-real-salt/384692/3 "2006-12-19T03:04:39Z")
Sugar is a fairly large molecule, allowing chemical variants that taste the same but don’t get digested (no calories) to be made using a similar structure. Table salt is an incredibly simple molecule: just two atoms, one sodium and one chlorine. Changing either one results in something fairly different, and therefore different taste. Mixes of spices are about as close as you can get, but I suspect those spices might have natural NaCl in them to help make them salty.
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2006, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-salt-substitute-that-taste-like-real-salt/384692/4 "2006-12-19T03:10:24Z")
Honestly, I don’t find potassium chloride (No-Salt, in one brand name incarnation) to taste that much different from the real thing.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2006, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-salt-substitute-that-taste-like-real-salt/384692/5 "2006-12-19T03:23:54Z")
But you’ve got be careful with potassium chloride - the stuff is dangerous.
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2006, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-salt-substitute-that-taste-like-real-salt/384692/6 "2006-12-19T03:25:01Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo]
But you’ve got be careful with potassium chloride - the stuff is dangerous.
[/QUOTE]
Well, true, but I’m not eating big chunks of it and I’m not taking any medications with it in.
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### Author:  [@justqwerty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justqwerty)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-salt-substitute-that-taste-like-real-salt/384692/7 "2006-12-19T22:31:49Z")
Thanks to everyone who replied.
**Scribble**
looks like I just have to live with this.
I’m not much into cooking, but thanks for your concern.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-salt-substitute-that-taste-like-real-salt/384692/8 "2006-12-20T10:44:54Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Well, true, but I’m not eating big chunks of it and I’m not taking any medications with it in.
Yes, but many people who use potassium chloride are unware of how small a lethal amount can be. It’s not an amount a person would be likely to consume but it certainly is an amount that is possible to consume.
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### Author:  [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-salt-substitute-that-taste-like-real-salt/384692/9 "2006-12-20T18:01:11Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo]
But you’ve got be careful with potassium chloride - the stuff is dangerous.
[/QUOTE]
how so? how much? why?
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### Author:  [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2006, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-salt-substitute-that-taste-like-real-salt/384692/10 "2006-12-20T21:56:14Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo]
how so? how much? why?
[/QUOTE]
From [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_chloride):
> [@](#):
>
> Potassium is vital in the human body and oral potassium chloride is the common means to replenish it, although it can also be diluted and given intravenously. It can be used as a salt substitute for food, but due to its weak, bitter, unsalty flavor, it is usually mixed with regular salt, sodium chloride, for this purpose to improve the taste. Medically it is used in the treatment of hypokalemia and associated conditions, for digitalis poisoning, and as an electrolyte replenisher. Brand names include K-Dur®, Klor-Con®, Micro-K®, and Kaon Cl®. **Side effects can include gastrointestinal discomfort including nausea and vomiting, diarrhea and bleeding of the bowel. Overdoses cause hyperkalemia which can lead to paresthesia, cardiac conduction blocks, fibrillation and arrhythmias, also sclerotic effects.**
> [@](#):
>
> Orally it is toxic in excess; **the LD50 is around 2500 mg/kg (meaning that a 150-lb person would have to consume about six ounces; regular salt is about as toxic)**. Intravenously this is reduced to just over 100 mg/kg but of more concern are its severe effects on cardiac muscles; high doses can cause cardiac arrest and rapid death. Indeed, a massive overdose of intravenous potassium chloride is used to stop the heart in execution by lethal injection.
(emphasis added by me)
So it looks like the LD50 (dosage at which 50% of the subjects die) is higher than you would be likely to consume, but that article doesn’t say at what dosage side-effects start to occur.
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### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2006, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-salt-substitute-that-taste-like-real-salt/384692/11 "2006-12-21T03:09:15Z")
So calcium cloride should be banned like vegemite, because like it, you normaly eat small harmless amounts, but a highly abnormal amount can kill you.
I find that when I make a hamburger or the like that I don’t need to add salt. I’ve reduced the salt intake to minimum on foods over twenty years and I don’t like much salt any longer. I now order fries at all restraunts without salt, because I can’t stand to eat them with salt. I can not tolerate the taste of the substitute. blahk! pfft! yuck!
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### Author:  [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2006, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-salt-substitute-that-taste-like-real-salt/384692/12 "2006-12-21T03:21:01Z")
Waenara, thanks.
Does it build up in your system? I am guessing it is as readily excreted as regular salt.