I got asked the other day the following question, which I almost blew off before I did some
more research about it.
Thus, I wanted to share it with all of my subscribers
“Dr. Sam - I have high blood pressure and I was watching your videos about lowering
it and so far, in the past 3 months I’ve been able to get off of my blood pressure
drugs by using your diet changes and supplement recommendations.
However, I have a question about Himalayan Salt - I read that it’s toxic?
Is this true?
I thought it was natural and good for you and better than regular white table salt?
I’m super confused.
What do you say?”
Before I start with the Himalayan salt topic, I want to point out the fact that high blood
pressure is NOT caused by adding some salt to your foods.
Salt isn’t even the primary cause of high blood pressure - it’s more of a hormonal
imbalance and aging thing.
I know this because my dad’s side of the family has very high blood pressure and because
of this, I had to learn how to lower it naturally.
More about this later.
Himalayan Salt & Lead Poisoning?
In regards to Himalayan salt being toxic?...
My first thought was, “no, it’s not.
And anything in excess will be toxic, including water”.
However, before I reply back with a quick “no”, I decided to do some research.
And yup, I found a few articles stating that Himalayan salt is in fact, toxic.
Or, it “could” be toxic due to higher levels of lead.
Which is a heavy metal and you don’t want this in your body.
Just to let you know, lead is a naturally occurring element found in your body, the
environment and in the foods we eat.
Heck, it’s even in the air we breathe.1 But you just don’t want anything extra added
if possible.
Anyway, the amount of lead in Himalayan Salt is very, very small.
It’s nothing to be concerned about unless you’re having table spoons full of it daily.
In which case, you’ll have other health issues.
Now, I have Himalayan Salt daily - probably half a teaspoon full.
And these days, I have more Celtic Salt instead.
It is slightly healthier.
The only negative is that it’s a “wet” salt.
So, you can’t put it in a salt shaker because it’ll stick to the walls and it won’t
come out.
So, you just take a pinch and put it on your foods.
Is It Healthier?
Now, a lot of people state how Himalayan salt is so healthy because it has about 84 trace
minerals, including potassium, calcium, iodine, magnesium, iron, zinc and others.
Which sounds great...
However, the reality is that there’s just very small amounts of these minerals, nothing
that’ll make much of a difference in your life.2
Pink Himalayan Salt Table Salt
Calcium (mg) 1.6
0.4 Potassium (mg)
2.8 0.9
Magnesium (mg) 1.06
0.0139 Iron (mg)
0.0369 0.0101
Sodium (mg) 368
381 As you can see, table salt may have more sodium,
but pink Himalayan salt contains more calcium, potassium, magnesium and iron.2
Again, amounts that are not worth even mentioning.
How Does It Compare To White Table Salt And since we’re speaking about regular white
table salt, what are the main differences, pros and cons as it compares to Himalayan
Salt?
Honestly, the only real benefit to regular white salt is if you get the ionized version,
which contains iodine.
These days, many people are actually deficient in iodine, which is a shame since it has many
benefits.
One of the main ones is improving thyroid function.
Thus, if you are having a hard time losing weight and thus, may have a slower metabolism
due to less thyroid production…
Taking iodine will help speed up your thyroid and increase the levels.
So, you can take it as an iodine supplement, or eat more seaweed or take ionized salt.
However, white salt does have extra additives you may not want, such as fluoride, which
is a toxin.
Also, anti-caking agents to prevent the grains from sticking together.
Remember how earlier I said how Celtic Salt is “wet” and sticks together, this is
one reason - no anti-caking agents or additives.
And white salt does cost much less than Himalyan and Celtic salts.
Summary & Bottom Line Himalyan salt isn’t toxic, even though it
has very low levels of a toxin called lead.
One of the biggest promoted benefits about Himalyan salt is that it contains about 84
trace minerals, but the levels are so low that there are no real benefits.
White table salt does have two main benefits: (A) It’s cheaper than Himalyan
(B) the ionized version is good for a slow thyroid because it contains iodine.
A big negative with white salt is that it contains additives that you don’t want - fluoride
and anti-caking agents.
So go ahead and continue using Himalyan salt or do what I do, use Celtic Sea salt the majority
of the time.
And don’t worry about the added salt raising your blood pressure.
The majority of salt in your diet comes from packaged foods.
The real cause of hypertension is the change in your hormones due to aging.
You can get more details about improving your blood pressure and still enjoy eating salt,
by visiting the special link below this video, where I reveal how I quickly lowered my dad’s
blood pressure in just a few days - no diet changes or drugs.