Oasis Advanced Wellness Health Forum

[andrea]

Is there any truth to the health benefits of himalayan salt over table salt, or is ALL salt bad for us. we are trying our best to do what is most healthy for our bodies. we have cut out sugar, white flour, pasta, rice bread, potatoes, we cook with coconut oil and consume it daily, so we are looking for an alternative to table salt for our food. any help you could provide would be appreciated. Thank You,

[Dr. L]

Hi Andrea

I definitely believe that Himalayan Salt is more beneficial than plain table salt. Many people prefer unrefined sea salt, which is actually gray in color, because of the benefits of minerals from the ocean. Salt is essential for life, yet almost all commercial table and cooking salts have been "chemically cleaned" and reduced to sodium chloride - an unnatural chemical that may act as a poison in your body.

According to one website:

Of the first twelve ?health outcomes? studies of sodium reduction, only a single study has found an association in the general population between low-sodium diets and reduced incidence of cardiovascular events like stroke or heart attack. Several have identifed health risks of low-salt diets. Here?s what scientists have found:

1. A ten-year study of nearly 8,000 Hawaiian Japanese men concluded: "No relation was found between salt intake and the incidence of stroke." (1985)

2. An eight-year study of a New York City hypertensive population stratified for sodium intake levels found those on low-salt diets had more than four times as many heart attacks as those on normal-sodium diets ? the exact opposite of what the ?salt hypothesis? would have predicted. (1995)

3. An analysis by NHLBI?s Dr. Cutler of the first six years? data from the MRFIT database documented no health outcomes benefits of lower-sodium diets. (1997)

4. A ten-year follow-up study to the huge Scottish Heart Health Study found no improved health outcomes for those on low-salt diets. (1997)

5. An analysis of the health outcomes over twenty years from those in the massive US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I) documented a 20% greater incidence of heart attacks among those on low-salt diets compared to normal-salt diets ( 1 2 ) (1998)

6. A health outcomes study in Finland, reported to the American Heart Association that no health benefits could be identified and concluded ??our results do not support the recommendations for entire populations to reduce dietary sodium intake to prevent coronary heart disease.? (1998)

7. A further analysis of the MRFIT database, this time using fourteen years? data, confirmed no improved health benefit from low-sodium diets. Its author conceded that there is "no relationship observed between dietary sodium and mortality." (1999)

8. A study of Americans found that less sodium-dense diets did reduce the cardiovascular mortality of one population sub-set, overweight men ? the article reporting the findings did not explain why this obese group actually consumed less sodium than normal-weight individuals in the study. (1999)

9. A Finnish study reported an increase in cardiovascular events for obese men (but not women or normal-weight individuals of either gender) ? the article, however, failed to adjust for potassium intake levels which many researchers consider a key associated variable. (2001)

10. In September, 2002, the prestigous Cochrane Collaboration produced the latest and highest-quality meta-analysis of clinical trials. It was published in the British Medical Journal and confirmed earlier meta-analyses' conclusions that significant salt reduction would lead to very small blood pressure changes in sensitive populations and no health benefits. (2002)

11. In June 2003, Dutch researchers using a massive database in Rotterdam concluded that "variations in dietary soidum and potassium within the range commonly observed in Westernized societies have no material effect on the ocurrence of cardiovascular events and mortality at old age." (2003)

12. In July 2004, the first "outcomes" study identifying a population risk appeared in Stroke magazine. Researchers found that in a Japanese population, "low" sodium intakes (about 20% above Americans' average intake) had one-third the incidence of fatal strokes of those consuming twice as much sodium as Americans. (2004)

13. A March 2006 analysis of the federal NHANES II database in The American Journal of Medicine found a 37% higher cardiovascular mortality rate for low-sodium dieters (2006). See their university's news release.


_________________
Take Care & Be Well,
Dr. L