# What's the straight dope on Himalayan Salt and High Blood Pressure? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 26, 2016, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-himalayan-salt-and-high-blood-pressure/773066 "2016-11-26T18:14:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-himalayan-salt-and-high-blood-pressure/773066/21 "2016-11-27T00:37:47Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > That stuff is 50% HFCS. So it is 50% sugar-free? If you wash it down with some gluten-free soda you can’t go wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-himalayan-salt-and-high-blood-pressure/773066/22 "2016-11-27T00:49:24Z")
> [@HeXen](#): > > 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. Has she said anything about the freshness? There is at least one customer where I work who is very, very concerned that her salt be _fresh_ - none of that old, stale salt. Lady, _it’s a fucking rock_. The salt crystals, whether in a box labeled “Morton’s” or labeled “Mined by Barefoot Monks Pink Himalayan Chakra Purifying Nummy-Bits”, is likely _millions_ of years old. There’s no “best buy” date, unless you’re talking “end of the universe”. Pure sodium chloride is white, as we all know. Himalayan salt is pink because of stuff in it that’s _not_ salt. Or, as another poster described it: slightly dirty table salt. > [@](#): > > “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” In some people high blood pressure is “sensitive” to salt, meaning the more salt they eat the more it will rise. A lot of other peoples’ high blood pressure is NOT salt sensitive, so it doesn’t matter if they cut back or not. How do you know which group you are in? Reduce your salt intake. If your BP goes down you’re a “salt sensitive” and restricting it may (or may not) be a good thing. If there’s no change you’re not salt sensitive and, as far as we know, there’s no reason to cut back in that case. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-himalayan-salt-and-high-blood-pressure/773066/23 "2016-11-27T06:39:26Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > 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.”_ > > [https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/pass-the-salt-but-not-that-pink-himalayan-stuff/](https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/pass-the-salt-but-not-that-pink-himalayan-stuff/) > > One big-time promoter (and seller) of Himalayan salt is David “Avocado” Wolfe, a [snake oil purveyor](https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2016/01/18/your-worst-day-ever-david-avocados-himalayan-salt-debunked/) 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. Himalayan sea salt? I thought sea salt was obtained by setting seawater out in pans to evaporate and collecting the residue. Where are they finding seawater in the Himalayas? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-himalayan-salt-and-high-blood-pressure/773066/24 "2016-11-27T06:42:17Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Himalayan sea salt? I thought sea salt was obtained by setting seawater out in pans to evaporate and collecting the residue. > > Where are they finding seawater in the Himalayas? Most of what is now the Himalayas and its foothills used to be the sea floor before the Indian plate hit the Eurasian one. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-himalayan-salt-and-high-blood-pressure/773066/25 "2016-11-27T06:48:12Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Himalayan sea salt? I thought sea salt was obtained by setting seawater out in pans to evaporate and collecting the residue. > > Where are they finding seawater in the Himalayas? The word “sea” does not appear in this thread prior to your post. ETA: my mistake, I see it now in Jackmanii’s quote of something. It’s just an error, I think. It’s usually referred to as just Himalayan salt. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-himalayan-salt-and-high-blood-pressure/773066/26 "2016-11-27T06:52:53Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Himalayan sea salt? I thought sea salt was obtained by setting seawater out in pans to evaporate and collecting the residue. > > Where are they finding seawater in the Himalayas? > [@AK84](#): > > Most of what is now the Himalayas and its foothills used to be the sea floor before the Indian plate hit the Eurasian one. That strikes me as accurate but irrelevant. My understanding is that you don’t get to call it sea salt unless it was harvested from seawater brine within living memory. Have I been misled? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-himalayan-salt-and-high-blood-pressure/773066/27 "2016-11-27T07:05:01Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > That strikes me as accurate but irrelevant. My understanding is that you don’t get to call it sea salt unless it was harvested from seawater brine within living memory. Have I been misled? Thats basically what Himalayan salts are anyway, the seawater from the ocean and the later shallow seas evaporated leaving behind salt deposits. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-himalayan-salt-and-high-blood-pressure/773066/28 "2016-11-27T07:54:04Z")
I just found this -[FACT OR MYTH: SODIUM RAISES BLOOD PRESSURE](http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/02/why-does-salt-raise-blood-pressure/): > [@](#): > > In 2008, Italian researchers began publishing the results from a series of clinical trials, all of which reported that, among patients with heart failure, reducing salt consumption increased the risk of death. These studies were followed by others which showed among Type 1 and 2 diabetics, healthy Europeans and patients with chronic heart failure, those that ate salt at the lower limit of the normal range were more likely to have heart disease than those who ate salt in the middle range of normal. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-himalayan-salt-and-high-blood-pressure/773066/29 "2016-11-27T08:37:17Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > 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. . > **[Minerals in Himalayan Pink Salt Spectral Analysis](https://themeadow.com/pages/minerals-in-himalayan-pink-salt-spectral-analysis)** > > Minerals in Himalayan Pink Salt, this Spectral Analysis offers a detailed mineral chemical analysis and listing of all the elements in salt. This page also explains everything you wanted to know about Himalayan Salt but didn't know to ask. For first... It doesn’t have enough of the metals you need lots of (calcium, iron… and so on ) and the only two interesting things it does have is is lithium and sulfur. The lithium is probably 1/10th of the strength you need to get an RDI from it, that is its meaningless to consider the lithium in the pink salt important, and the sulfur is probably not in the correct form - you need to eat sulfur containing amino acids not mineral sulfur?? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-himalayan-salt-and-high-blood-pressure/773066/30 "2016-11-27T11:33:19Z")
They don’t have to be amino acids - both thiamine/B1 and biotin/B7 are essential vitamins that contain sulfur but are not amino acids. I think the more correct term is “organosulfur compounds”. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-himalayan-salt-and-high-blood-pressure/773066/31 "2016-11-27T14:39:35Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Most of what is now the Himalayas and its foothills used to be the sea floor before the Indian plate hit the Eurasian one. Well sure, if you believe in all that ‘science’ crap. 😃 Salt is salt is salt. Everything else about it is pure marketing nonsense designed to empty your wallet, like most homeopathic bullshit. As far as putting it on your food: my medicated BP is around 130/70 and I salt anything that needs it. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-himalayan-salt-and-high-blood-pressure/773066/32 "2016-11-27T15:16:20Z")
Jared Diamond in"the World Until Yesterday" spends a chapter on salt and high blood pressure. The natives of interior New Guinea had very limited access to salt and blood pressure problems were unknown. The current generation with a modern lifestyle pours on the salt like westerners and has the same high blood pressure issues. Basically the human body has evolved mechanisms to retain salt in the face of a significant lack that only recent times has ameliorated. Like obesity, now our problem is the opposite - these now overdo the processes they were meant to sustain. Keeping acceptable BP with low sodium results now in excess BP for some people. The suggestion is that there are multiple mechanisms so no one simple solution to fix this, other than drastic reduction of salt intake. One problem he mentioned (as will every nutritionist) is that many prepared foods have a hidden large amount of salt. It is added to almost every recipe to improve taste. Avoiding adding salt is only half the battle. And yes, sodium chloride is sodium chloride no matter where it comes from. The only benefit of miscellaneous micro-contaminants is if you perhaps live in a remote mountain plateau and don’t otherwise have a sufficiently varied diet. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-himalayan-salt-and-high-blood-pressure/773066/33 "2016-11-27T15:36:01Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Jared Diamond in"the World Until Yesterday" spends a chapter on salt and high blood pressure. The natives of interior New Guinea had very limited access to salt and blood pressure problems were unknown. The current generation with a modern lifestyle pours on the salt like westerners and has the same high blood pressure issues. So a higher salt intake is the **ONLY** difference between a primitive lifestyle and a modern lifestyle? :smack: Methinks that your critical thinking skills need a tuneup. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-himalayan-salt-and-high-blood-pressure/773066/34 "2016-11-27T16:47:10Z")
This salt hypertension stuff confuses me. FWIW [here](http://cardiobrief.org/2016/05/22/study-suggests-salt-restriction-only-beneficial-in-people-with-hypertension/) is a discussion with some critiques and responses to the critiques of that Lancet study. > [@](#): > > The new analysis combines data from more than 133,000 hypertensive and normotensive people who participated in four large prospective studies. Salt consumption was estimated by measuring sodium from a urine sample. For both hypertensive and normotensive people low levels of salt consumption below 3,000 mg per day were associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and death. However, at the highest levels of salt consumption (more than 7,000 mg per day) there was an increased risk in the people with hypertension but no increased risk in people without hypertension. > > “While our data highlights the importance of reducing high salt intake in people with hypertension, it does not support reducing salt intake to low levels,” said the lead author of the study, Andrew Mente, (McMaster University), in a McMaster press release. “Our findings are important because they show that lowering sodium is best targeted at those with hypertension who also consume high sodium diets.” The critique? > [@](#): > > Use of spot urine specimens obtained first in the morning are not a good surrogate for the gold standard, which is serial 24 hour urine measurements. And the response? Basically “Is too.” But what confuses me is the acceptance by both sides of urinary excretion as the gold standard marker of salt intake when the mechanism of [salt-sensitivity hypertension](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22713140) (which as noted by **Broomstick** is variable in degree within the population) likely “is mainly attributable to an impaired renal capacity to excrete sodium (Na(+) )” I am sure to be missing something but it seems to me that within the population that is likely to have salt-sensitive hypertension, however many they may be, urinary Na+ excretion may possibly be a particular poor marker of salt intake. Or is it assumed that some equilibrium must be reached, that after that what comes in must come out and urine is the only meaningful egress? Feeling stupid here but would appreciate someone who actually understands talking me through it. Also the article notes that very high salt intake is common across Asia but what does the diet of very high salt intake look like in America? Extremely high processed foods intake seems most likely to me, more than adding some salt to homemade stuff. If so could high salt intake be a marker for other issues related to a diet high in processed crap more than to the salt as the actual variable even in the hypertensive high salt intake population? Seem to me like the straight dope here is a work still in progress. **Chefguy** as a foodie do you hear anyone claiming that those trace elements change _the flavor profile_ of the salt? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-himalayan-salt-and-high-blood-pressure/773066/35 "2016-11-27T17:16:00Z")
Himalayan Salt does taste noticeably different than regular salt (it has a rather tart almost lemony, aftertaste) and the Salt Mines are worth a visit, but I doubt it has much by the way of health benefits and would not be surprised if it has some adverse effects instead, since it contains some uncommon impurities, which turn the Salt nearly red. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-himalayan-salt-and-high-blood-pressure/773066/36 "2016-11-27T17:36:27Z")
@ **DSeid** :Oh yes. See here for an example. [About Us - The Meadow](http://themeadow.com/pages/about-us) The guy’s written a 300 page foodie book on the subtle distinctions of the various sorts. The store has quite a variety; each best paired with different dishes. They can even set you up with a 50-flavor starter set for a mere USD300. Note that each one of the 50 samples is tiny, so it’s barely a couple pounds of salt. Trendy restaurants have “salmeliers” to recommend the perfect salt with the gentle overtones to best complement the chef’s creation du jour. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-himalayan-salt-and-high-blood-pressure/773066/37 "2016-11-27T17:43:27Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > **Chefguy** as a foodie do you hear anyone claiming that those trace elements change _the flavor profile_ of the salt? People claim all sorts of things. I can’t confirm or deny it, as I won’t waste the money to give it a shot. **AK84** claims a lemony flavor for the Himalayan, and I can’t refute that. Whether that’s the salt, or how it was processed is up for argument. Most people who claim different flavors are doing so because the size of the salt flake is different, so they are getting a bigger salt blast on the tongue than with, say, the same amount of table salt. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-himalayan-salt-and-high-blood-pressure/773066/38 "2016-11-27T18:16:02Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > @ **DSeid** :Oh yes. See here for an example. [http://themeadow.com/pages/about-us](http://themeadow.com/pages/about-us) > > The guy’s written a 300 page foodie book on the subtle distinctions of the various sorts. The store has quite a variety; each best paired with different dishes. They can even set you up with a 50-flavor starter set for a mere USD300. Note that each one of the 50 samples is tiny, so it’s barely a couple pounds of salt. > > Trendy restaurants have “salmeliers” to recommend the perfect salt with the gentle overtones to best complement the chef’s creation du jour. Yeah, when you go to the actual [Himalayan Salt mine](http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/khewra-salt-mines), the red salt is so ubiquitous, that their gift shops sell you statutes, cups, plates and other things made of the stuff for about $1. Go to a restaurant and they tell you that because a dish uses real Himalayan salt, they charge the equivalent of $100 for it. Apparently the process of driving the salt up the Motorway causes it to become more expensive.:rolleyes: [QUOTE=Chefguy] People claim all sorts of things. I can’t confirm or deny it, as I won’t waste the money to give it a shot. AK84 claims a lemony flavor for the Himalayan, and I can’t refute that. Whether that’s the salt, or how it was processed is up for argument. Most people who claim different flavors are doing so because the size of the salt flake is different, so they are getting a bigger salt blast on the tongue than with, say, the same amount of table salt. [/QUOTE] The taste is absolutely because of the impurities. Himalayan Salt is typically not refined much, just cleaned and packaged. The same mines also produce salt for everyday use (these are the second largest mines in the world and have produced over 250 Million tonnes of the stuff over their lifetimes), and the difference is; Himalayan Salt, the salt they extracted which was not refined, regular salt; what **was** refined. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-himalayan-salt-and-high-blood-pressure/773066/39 "2016-11-27T18:19:43Z")
Another complication with using urine to measure salt intake is that urine isn’t the only way that the body sheds salt. It can also be lost in perspiration, which could easily be a confounding factor: People who exercise a lot will lose more salt in sweat, and will therefore have less in their urine… but maybe the real correlation there is that exercise reduces blood pressure. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2016, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-himalayan-salt-and-high-blood-pressure/773066/40 "2016-11-27T18:57:09Z")
Thanks for the information about the claimed flavor differences. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-himalayan-salt-and-high-blood-pressure/773066.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-straight-dope-on-himalayan-salt-and-high-blood-pressure/773066.md?page=3)