Campbell’s is advertising some new soup or other claiming that it’s healthier because it uses sea salt, which is lower in sodium. Not that the overall amount of salt has been cut but that the salt being used has less sodium in it. To which I say “guh?” I realize that sea salt has more of other minerals in it than table salt does, but as far as the actual sodium is concerned, doesn’t it pretty much have to be one sodium plus one chloride equals one salt? Not quite getting how one salt can have less sodium than another.
Well, table salt is just one kind of salt. In chemistry, “salt” is just any ionic compound. So table salt is Na+ and Cl-. But K+ and Cl- is a salt as well: KCl. And Ca+2 and Cl- is a salt too (CaCl2).
My understanding is that sea salt, as you said, has many more of these other types of salt.
To salt food to taste using what Messrs. Sterling and Morton and their competitors sell, is to add sodium chloride (with minimal admixtures of other salts, notably potassium iodide [0.006%, according to the house-brand box of salt in my kitchen]). To use sea salt is to use the natural salts of sea water, removed from suspension. This remains largely sodium chloride but also includes potassium and magnesium salts (with sulphate, bicarbonate, bromide and iodide ions as well as chloride), cutting one’s sodium intake by a small amount and incrementing those of other essential alkali and alkaline-earth metal ions.
Maldon Sea Salt, a typical marketer of sea salt, gives the following proportions:
Sodium Chloride – 98.80%
Potassium Chloride – 0.018%
Magnesium Sulphate – 0.10%
Calcium Sulphate – 0.55%
As you can see, sea salt does not reduce your salt (NaCl) intake by much but does give you several essential nutrients, not found in normal table salt, in small proportions.
Going from 100% to 98.8% isn’t much of a change… But is it possible that some of the other salts might have a stronger “salty” flavor, so less total amount of salt is needed to produce the same taste? In that case, the sea salt might be significantly better.
Also, it doesn’t really help here, but sea salt manufactures often claim that their salt can help reduce sodium in the diet. Their grains are usually larger than standard table salt, so they don’t pack as densely in the measuring implement. Therefore, a tablespoon of sea salt contains less sodium than a tablespoon of regular table salt.
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I don’t think this is actually true. Assuming the same type of packing (which is, granted, a big assumption), the ratio of occupied volume to total volume is independent of the size of the crystals. The only way that sea salt could reduce salt intake in the way you describe is is the crystals of sea salt were more irregular and didn’t pack as closely — average size has nothing to do with it.
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I don’t think the packing factor is relevant here, Campbell’s surely doesn’t add salt by the teaspoon but by weight. It’s got to be that the sea salt tastes saltier that the strict sodium chloride version, assuming of course that there’s a difference at all.
Campbell’s claim is pretty silly. They control the recipes for their products - if one of their soups is made with conventional table salt (i.e. pure sodium chloride) and they want to reduce the amount of sodium, all they have to do is reduce the amount of salt in the recipe. The soup won’t taste as salty, but that’s what happens when you reduce sodium.
Since sea salt is very slightly lower in sodium than table salt is, replacing table salt with sea salt will reduce the amount of sodium in the soup very slightly. Campbell’s could accomplish the same thing (as far as sodium is concerned) just by reducing the amount of table salt by an appropriate amount. It’s true that sea salt provides other nutrients, but that’s not what Cambell’s is claiming. Also, sea salt provides very small amounts of these nutrients - ones that aren’t hard to get by other means (e.g. bananas are high in potassium).
If we’re talking about soup, then the size of the grains doesn’t really enter into it, since the salt will be dissolved in the liquid.
They’re pretty much the same in saltiness. You can test this yourself by dissolving equal amounts (by weight) in water and tasting the two solutions. If you want to be sure you’re not fooling yourself, have someone else mix the two solutions and taste them while that person is out of the room (this isn’t a perfect double-blind protocol, but it’s pretty good).
Some people say they can taste the iodine that’s usually added to common table salt. Some also claim to be able to taste the trace minerals in sea salt. I have my doubts, especially when the salt is used in a recipe (most people don’t eat salt by itself).
Purely for fun, I went to the Campbell’s website to compare their regular condensed chicken-noodle soup with their low-sodium version.
Campbell’s® Condensed Soups
Chicken Noodle Soup
Nutrition Facts*
Amount Per Serving (serving size) = 1/2 cup condensed
Calories 60
Total Fat 2g
Sat. Fat 0.5g
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 15mg
**Sodium 890mg**
Total Carb. 8g
Dietary Fiber <1g
Sugars 1g
Protein 3g
% Daily Values**
Vitamin A 4%
Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 0%
Iron 2%
* The nutrition information contained in this list of Nutrition Facts is based on our current data. However, because the data may change from time to time, this information may not always be identical to the nutritional label information of products on shelf.
** % Daily Values (DV) are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
Here’s their reduced-sodium chicken-noodle soup information:
Campbell’s® Condensed Soups
25% Less Sodium Chicken Noodle Soup
Nutrition Facts*
Amount Per Serving (serving size) = 1/2 cup condensed
Calories 60
Total Fat 2g
Sat. Fat 0.5g
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 15mg
**Sodium 660mg**
Total Carb. 8g
Dietary Fiber 1g
Sugars 1g
Protein 3g
% Daily Values**
Vitamin A 4%
Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 0%
Iron 3%
* The nutrition information contained in this list of Nutrition Facts is based on our current data. However, because the data may change from time to time, this information may not always be identical to the nutritional label information of products on shelf.
** % Daily Values (DV) are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
(Bolding mine.)
Now, we’re assuming that all varieties of salt have the same level of saltiness. This is probably true for sea salt, which is also used to season potato chips, and which I recall as being just as salty as the regular Morton variety.
That said, given the information above, there is still a reduction in sodium, which is probably from adding less sea salt to these soups than Campbell’s adds to their regular soups. It is true that there are several manufacturers who make lower-sodium soups under various brands. But aside from the individual brand differences, one lower-sodium soup is pretty much the same as the next. And believe me, these taste like water that was in the same room as soup.
What Campbell’s did to make their new line stand out was to give it a unique selling proposition. By harping on the perceived “healthiness” of sea salt, the product seems different from its competitors. And because it has more salt than the lower-sodium kinds, it tastes more like regular soup. That’s all. It’s a marketing gimmick, not a scientific breakthrough.
I think a little taste test is in order. This afternoon, I’ll try both the 25% less sodium and the regular chicken noodle and I’ll report back.
Robin
I call BS, but that’s what they claim.