I’m on HBP medicine and use ‘No Salt’ which is phosphate instead of table salt. But mom was onto me yet again at Thanksgiving about using it saying processed, man made…blah, blah something yadda.
She hands me the pink salt stating some healthier nonsense stuff and wants me to keep it. (I forgot how good salt tastes!) So now I have this huge bottle of pink salt that contains micro amounts of minerals that I can get out of a bag of Dorito’s.
I was reading abouts on the webs and like anything else, articles are just all over the place in regards to salt itself and half sound biased as all hell. Most show at least 1 picture of a man/woman in a white lab coat. I got 5k articles saying no to salt and a few saying hell yes to salt while 100k health nuts with a blogs saying use Himalayan Salt and just as many others saying I should only ever eat dry rice and run 20 miles every day or some such nonsense. ( to which I can attest that 6 months of exercise and dieting off grape nuts, vitamins and protein shakes limit of 1500 calories a day yielded only a loss of 1/2 lb and still on the HBP medicines as you can see, so I call BS on that stuff) However one states this:
“The medical profession seems hell bent on trying to convince people to restrict the amount of salt in their diet because it’s supposedly so bad for you, even though there’s no real evidence to prove this theory. Even the American Heart Association has agreed that there is a distinct lack of proof on the salt and high blood pressure theory”
Still another article even recommends to the reader to use salt and not listen to your doctor.
“However, decades of scientific research have failed to prove ANY benefits of a low-salt diet, and in fact tend to show the opposite. Studies have also failed to prove salt’s connection to heart disease.”
Granted most research rarely proves anything
So what the Straight Dope here? What the hell am I supposed to put on my ***** fries? Salt, phosphate, pink salt, cocain?..because something is getting sprinkled on them that’s for darn sure. Tired of the Internet’s hypocrisy research crap but I’m about to start licking the salt off of a greasy KFC chicken leg here pretty soon if I’m not convinced about something.
I searched for “No Salt” because what you said about phosphate one, was incomplete (“phosphate” is only half the compound), and two, doesn’t match what I usually see in “salt for people with high BP”, which is potassium chloride.
The brand I found on Amazon has the composition I usually see, mainly potassium chloride with some stabilizers.
IANAD, I do know that there is a genetic factor to both low and high BP and that some people’s BP doesn’t respond to either diet or medication, but I also do know that many other people’s does respond. My straight dope, talk to your doctor, because he knows what else you’re on and whether your meds and diet appear to be working.
The medical profession is not hell bent on convincing people to restrict salt. In fact, my doctors’ instructions were along the lines of “make sure to keep salty snacks handy and don’t be shy with the salt shaker” until age raised my BP to within normal parameters.
Right potassium, not sure why I recollected it saying phosphate but whatever. One of the side effects of my medication is high potassium levels but I use No Salt and it’s still fine.
BTW I obviously have spoken to my Dr. He tells me to restrict my salt intake. lol. Still on the medicine though so yeah. So last visit I asked him about reducing the prescription but he said I need to lose 10 lbs if I want to be off of the medication…which is funny because I had HBP way back in my 20’s when I was 161 lbs. I’m about 195 these days but I still look thin. It just sort of accentuated the muscle mass I have cause I used to lift a lot.
Never heard of “Himalayan salt” before, so I googled it. Himalayan salt is slightly dirty table salt. The only benefit you would get from Himalayan salt is an increased risk of iodine deficiency, if you are into that sort of thing.
BTW, as for “Most show at least 1 picture of a man/woman in a white lab coat.”, a good rule of thumb is that the more some product tries to advertise to you that it is “backed by science”, the less likely that it actually is.
It’s plausible that there may be trace elements in Himalayan Salt that have an effect (good or bad), but so far as I know the purported benefits are hogwash. Chemically it is sodium chloride, just like any regular table salt, and it is meaningless to talk about “natural” sodium chloride; the only relevant metric is the purity of the sodium chloride, and the nature of any impurities. As for any health effects attributable to sodium chloride, they will be exactly the same with Himalayan Salt.
This article has a summary of the principal evidence that led to the routine recommendations to limit salt intake, including citations of the original papers.
There may be other research that brings some of these findings into question. But none of that is connected to the place where the sodium chloride comes from, or whether it’s pink! As far issues like hypertension are concerned, all sodium chloride that is sufficiently pure to be food-grade is identical.
Last I heard, the consensus was that potassium chloride was a bad idea for anyone at risk of heart problems. And while salt can under some circumstances raise blood pressure, the mechanism by which it does so works with any salt, not just sodium compounds.
That’s because you had LOW pressure, which is the exact opposite of the OP. Your doctor was exhibiting the same line of thinking that causes so many doctors to tell their patients to cut out the salt. It just so happened that in your case, he thought that the assumed effect was a good thing.
Pink Himalayan salt is essential for achieving that healthy glow.
“If you read down the list of (mineral ingredients in Himalayan salt), you will notice that it includes a number of radioactive substances like radium, uranium, and polonium. It also includes substances that act as poisons, like thallium. I wouldn’t be worried, since the amounts are so small; but if anyone believes the trace amounts of “good” minerals in Himalayan sea salt are good for you, why not believe the trace amounts of poisons and radioactive elements are bad for you?”
Himalayan salt also contains minute amounts of mercury, arsenic and cadmium. TOXINS!
Most importantly:
“here is no evidence published in peer-reviewed journals that replacing white salt with pink salt makes a shred of difference or leads to any improvement in health.”
One big-time promoter (and seller) of Himalayan salt is David “Avocado” Wolfe, a snake oil purveyor who also tells us that gravity is a toxin (it seems that standing on your head neutralizes this toxin and thus cures arthritis). Yep, I’d definitely rush out and buy his salt.
Meantime, we are still far from an overwhelming consensus on just what level of salt in the diet in healthiest. From my standpoint, moderation makes sense.
A credulous friend has posted on Facebook about a magical Himalayan salt lamp that is somehow meant to improve her health…! She’s not even ingesting this stuff!
OP, I’m curious about your ineffective 1500 cal/day diet. How were you measuring your intake? The r/loseit sub is very inspiring and has lots of sensible weight-loss tips, start at the Quick Start guide on the sidebar.
The CV risk related to salt consumption has been muddled in both popular and medical circles. It is the same groupthink like fat vs. carbohydrates or cholesterol consumption. Some powerful organization makes its mind in the prehistoric past and then it turns into a political issue.
The guidelines in the US advise that consuming less than 2.3g sodium/day is best; however large scale research shows that consuming sodium below 3g/day is more dangerous than over 7g/day in all populations:
That stuff is 50% HFCS. It’s sweet enough to put on ice cream. Blech!!
Try Trader Joe’s “Organic Ketchup”. I don’t give two hoots about the organic part, but it’s much lower in sugar and actually tastes like I think ketchup did in the Olden Tymes before HFCS got added to everything.