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Food/Health & Wellness
Is Sea Salt Nutritionally Better Than Ordinary Table Salt?
The major difference is in extraction and processing
What if I tell you that both sea salt and ordinary table salt(not fortified with additional iodine) have the same nutritional content? The difference is in method of extraction and processing.
The Processing Factor
Sea salt is extracted from the sea, and excess water is filtered or evaporated out, with little or no further processing. This makes sea salt retains most of its natural traces of minerals like calcium, potassium and magnesium. Hence the crystals is bigger and bolder.
Table salt is however mined from rocky salt deposits, and processed for purification. This processing unfortunately removes the traces of natural minerals. And before reaching our table, it is further processed by adding anti-caking agent to prevent clumping together and flow freely.
Some table salt are fortified with some minerals, the most common is iodine, potassium iodide or potassium iodate, an element needed to make thyroid hormone. The body needs iodine to make the hormone, which only comes from food. However not all table salts are fortified. Lack of iodine in the body can inflame the thyroid gland, a disease called goiter.
The Nutritional Value of Sea salt and Table Salt Compared
We must note that both contains about 40% sodium by weight than any other ingredients. The sodium content in salt is in form of Sodium Chloride. However, the sodium content of table salt is more than that of sea salt, mainly because of the bigger volume of sea salt crystals.
Sea salt, as mentioned above contains trace minerals as compared to table salt.
Health Benefits of Salt
Salt improves the taste of foods. Have you ever cooked food without salt? Definitely not worth it to eliminate salt completely from our meals.
When salts are fortified with iodine (potasium iodide or K1), it helps maintains our iodine level. Iodine is an element needed for thyroid hormone production. Lack of iodine in the body inflames the thyrod gland, a…
