Salt Tablets?

michael k said:

I stopped taking salt balancing
compounds and made sure I ate a LOT of fruit on the walks (about 5 apples
and 10 tangerines) on a walk.

Man but that would create a whole other problem for me!!!!!!

"dino" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

michael k said:

I stopped taking salt balancing compounds and made sure I ate a LOT of
fruit on the walks (about 5 apples and 10 tangerines) on a walk.

Man but that would create a whole other problem for me!!!!!!

Michael Palin in The Time Bandits - "it's my...problem, I must have fruit!"

--
Bob Mannix
(anti-spam is as easy as 1-2-3 - not)

Peter Clinch said:

Quoted message said:

Like I said, I don't know if any of the health benefits are true or
not, but surely it makes sense that unprocessed sea salt is better
for you than the processed variety? Same with pretty much all food,
unprocessed is healthier.

Up to a point... however, processed salt is crystalline sodium
chloride,

With additives like iodene (mainly in the US) and anti-caking agents.

Quoted message said:

while "natural" salt is crystalline sodium chloride with
impurites.

With extra *minerals*. I've read that sea salt is filtered to get rid of
other [censored].

"However, unrefined sea salt contains many important minerals that regular
iodized table salt does not contain."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_salt

Quoted message said:

This is rather different to the case with, say, sugar,
where refined crystalline sucrose is a rather different prospect for
your body than sugars occurring in fruit etc.

"[Processed] salt is dried at high temperatures (over 1,200F / 649oC), which
alters the ionic structure of the salt."
http://www.rssl.com/OurServices/FoodENews/Newsletter.aspx?ENewsletterID=235

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

All else aside, the sea salt really tastes a lot nicer than the
ordinary table salt.

Could be a textural thing.

No, the one I bought is finely ground.

Quoted message said:

Try identical amounts by weight and
dissolve thoroughly in half a packet of soup each, and then see if
you can tell the difference.

I probably wouldn't be able to in that instance, due to the taste being
disguised by all the other flavours. But I never add salt to soup anyway.
About the only thing I ever add it to is potatoes and chips.

Besides, what better way to compare tastes than on their own? They do taste
*very* different, I was surprised, as have some other people who've tried
it. Apparently all sea salts taste different due to different minerals being
present.

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk/
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk/weblog/
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk/weblog/pic-of-the-day/comet-holmes/

Bob Mannix said:

Yebbut - ordinary table salt is mined.

Then processed.

"Commonly used additives in salt are Sodium Hexacyanoferrate II and
Magnesium Carbonate."

Quoted message said:

The seas that laid this salt
down were pristine sparkly clean phehistoric seas. Sea salt now comes
out of the, well, sea and that's full of cr*p now.

"Finally, as an insurance against any possible undesirable elements in the
seawater, the brine passes through several manmade filters which go to a
fineness of several microns."
http://www.seasalt.co.uk/wisscms-en-198.aspx

Quoted message said:

Give me ordinary salt any day!

It's not ordinary, it's processed.

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk/
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk/weblog/
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk/weblog/pic-of-the-day/comet-holmes/

Paul Saunders said:

Quoted message said:

while "natural" salt is crystalline sodium chloride with
impurites.

With extra *minerals*. I've read that sea salt is filtered to get rid of
other [censored].

An impurity in NaCl is anything that isn't NaCl. If I give you a bar of
lead and it's full of gold, the gold is still an impurity, even if a
rather nice one.

Quoted message said:

"However, unrefined sea salt contains many important minerals that regular
iodized table salt does not contain."

It may well do, but anyone eating a balanced diet gets all the minerals
and vitamins they need in any case. More isn't better, it's just more,
and will get thrown away down the toilet.

Quoted message said:

"[Processed] salt is dried at high temperatures (over 1,200F / 649oC), which
alters the ionic structure of the salt."
http://www.rssl.com/OurServices/FoodENews/Newsletter.aspx?ENewsletterID=235

and? A concentrated dose of salt is still a concentrated dose of salt
and it still has the same amount of Na and Cl in it in identical
proportions (1 for 1).
This strikes me as a bit like the marketing of Ultrafleece as "a warp
knit fleece": it /is/ a warp knit fleece, but how does that particular
fact really impact on the wearer?

Quoted message said:

Besides, what better way to compare tastes than on their own?

Because slat on its own is a very specific and powerful taste that may
rather overload the detectors. I'm just guessing here, but contrast the
way that whiskies are often tasted with a dilution of spring water.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

while "natural" salt is crystalline sodium chloride with
impurites.

With extra *minerals*. I've read that sea salt is filtered to get
rid of other [censored].

An impurity in NaCl is anything that isn't NaCl. If I give you a bar
of lead and it's full of gold, the gold is still an impurity, even if
a rather nice one.

Fair enough, but I mentioned filtering to distinguish between useful
minerals and other "[censored]" that might be harmful.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

"However, unrefined sea salt contains many important minerals that
regular iodized table salt does not contain."

It may well do, but anyone eating a balanced diet gets all the
minerals and vitamins they need in any case.

I very much doubt that the majority of people in the civilised world are
eating a healthy balanced diet these days.

Quoted message said:

More isn't better, it's
just more, and will get thrown away down the toilet.

Certain vitamins yes, but I don't believe that's the case with minerals.
Which could be a bad thing with some minerals of course. Zinc, iron and
copper need to be eaten in the correct relative quantities for example, if
you eat too much of one then it inhibits the absorbsion of the others. But
how do you know how much you're getting anyway?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

"[Processed] salt is dried at high temperatures (over 1,200F /
649oC), which alters the ionic structure of the salt."
http://www.rssl.com/OurServices/FoodENews/Newsletter.aspx?ENewsletterID=235

and?

I don't know. I'm just trying to get to the truth of the matter here. I've
read a lot of stuff saying that sea salt is healthier than processed salt
(with the high temperatures cited as one reason for this), but nothing
claiming that the latter is just as healthy. I haven't found any official
sources that comment on this issue (perhaps because it would affect sales if
they admitted sea salt was healthier, or perhaps because there's no
effective difference). I found a page on salt myths, but sea salt being
healthier wasn't amongst them.

Quoted message said:

A concentrated dose of salt is still a concentrated dose of salt
and it still has the same amount of Na and Cl in it in identical
proportions (1 for 1).
This strikes me as a bit like the marketing of Ultrafleece as "a warp
knit fleece": it /is/ a warp knit fleece, but how does that particular
fact really impact on the wearer?

That's what I'd like to know too. But you know how much [censored] is written on
the internet, it's hard to tell what the truth of the matter is. There are
an awful lot of sites promoting the health benefits of sea salt over
processed, but I've found none that claim the reverse or that there's no
difference.

It's a well known fact that processed foods aren't as healthy as foods in
their natural state, so why would salt be any different? Given the choice it
would seem to make more sense to go for natural than processed. I'm
skeptical of any processing these days. Even if salt isn't exactly a food,
processing at high temperatures and adding additives doesn't sound like a
good idea to me. Many of the arguments against processing seem quite
reasonable, and I haven't yet found any information to dispute these
arguments.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Besides, what better way to compare tastes than on their own?

Because slat on its own is a very specific and powerful taste that may
rather overload the detectors. I'm just guessing here, but contrast
the way that whiskies are often tasted with a dilution of spring
water.

I haven't been swallowing teaspoons of the stuff! Just a few grains.

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk/
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk/weblog/
Latest Post
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk/weblog/pic-of-the-day/comet-holmes/

Paul Saunders said:

Fair enough, but I mentioned filtering to distinguish between useful
minerals and other "[censored]" that might be harmful.

Understood, though my point was the difference between, say, 98% salt
content and 97.5% salt content really doesn't make any difference to the
salt content.

Quoted message said:

I very much doubt that the majority of people in the civilised world are
eating a healthy balanced diet these days.

fair enough, but if you're not it'll be easier to get mineral
supplements than fine tune your table salt, I'd have thought...

Quoted message said:

Certain vitamins yes, but I don't believe that's the case with minerals.
Which could be a bad thing with some minerals of course. Zinc, iron and
copper need to be eaten in the correct relative quantities for example, if
you eat too much of one then it inhibits the absorbsion of the others. But
how do you know how much you're getting anyway?

Are you exhibiting symptoms of deficiency? If not, you're probably
getting enough.

Quoted message said:

I don't know. I'm just trying to get to the truth of the matter here.

You need to separate useful and useless truth though. Unless you happen
to know quite a lot about the physics and chemistry of salt crystals and
how they change with heat then knowing to within half a degree how hot
it got just isn't useful information.

Quoted message said:

I haven't found any official
sources that comment on this issue (perhaps because it would affect sales if
they admitted sea salt was healthier, or perhaps because there's no
effective difference).

Since official sources, e.g. the Department of Health, are doing their
damnedest to get us to cut down I don't see why affecting sales would
bother them. And I can't see any particular reason why they wouldn't
say sea salt was healthier if anyone genuinely thought it was. As it
is, I suspect you're getting a lot of touchy-feely speculation and
little to none in the way of real evidence.

I think the wiki is a good place for this sort of info, because it tends
to end up effectively peer reviewed into something approaching a pretty
good consensus. For sea-salt it doesn't note any particular health
benefit, though it does note an iodine deficiency which can be
problematical with it. It does bear out the different taste, mind.

Quoted message said:

That's what I'd like to know too. But you know how much [censored] is written on
the internet, it's hard to tell what the truth of the matter is. There are
an awful lot of sites promoting the health benefits of sea salt over
processed, but I've found none that claim the reverse or that there's no
difference.

I think the salient point is I can't find any government/NHS health
advice saying it's better for me, and the consensus case that is the
Wiki doesn't claim it or point to good evidence either.

Quoted message said:

It's a well known fact that processed foods aren't as healthy as foods in
their natural state, so why would salt be any different?

Because most of what you get in sea salt is NaCl crystals, while most of
what you get in table salt is NaCl crystals. Impurities in the
supporting cast aside, the NaCl crystal is what meets the digestion
process, and I doubt that it'll make much difference to it where it came
from. The processing doesn't really alter the fundamental thing much,
just makes it a bit easier to package. Compare and contrast refined
sugar, which is very different in form to what you'll get in, say, an apple.

In summary, if you prefer the taste is a pretty damn good reason, but
any health benefits are arm-waving speculation AFAICT.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

Quoted message said:

Fair enough, but I mentioned filtering to distinguish between useful
minerals and other "[censored]" that might be harmful.

Understood, though my point was the difference between, say, 98% salt
content and 97.5% salt content really doesn't make any difference to
the salt content.

True, but it makes a big difference to the all the trace elements present.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I very much doubt that the majority of people in the civilised world
are eating a healthy balanced diet these days.

fair enough, but if you're not it'll be easier to get mineral
supplements than fine tune your table salt, I'd have thought...

Funnily enough, I've never noticed gold included in any mineral supplement
I've seen! Not that it's necessarily good for you, but apparently a lot of
trace elements are.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Certain vitamins yes, but I don't believe that's the case with
minerals. Which could be a bad thing with some minerals of course.
Zinc, iron and copper need to be eaten in the correct relative
quantities for example, if you eat too much of one then it inhibits
the absorbsion of the others. But how do you know how much you're
getting anyway?

Are you exhibiting symptoms of deficiency? If not, you're probably
getting enough.

What are the symptoms anyway? There are so many vitamins and minerals and so
many symptoms, it would be hard to tell. And we all know the dangers of
self-diagnosis, don't we? It's all too easy to discover that you're
suffering from some rare disease...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I don't know. I'm just trying to get to the truth of the matter here.

You need to separate useful and useless truth though.

True.

Quoted message said:

Unless you happen
to know quite a lot about the physics and chemistry of salt crystals
and how they change with heat then knowing to within half a degree
how hot it got just isn't useful information.

True. I've just read that it's a bad thing, but I don't know whether that's
true or not.

Quoted message said:

Since official sources, e.g. the Department of Health, are doing their
damnedest to get us to cut down I don't see why affecting sales would
bother them. And I can't see any particular reason why they wouldn't
say sea salt was healthier if anyone genuinely thought it was.

Fair point, but some people clearly think it is.

Quoted message said:

As it
is, I suspect you're getting a lot of touchy-feely speculation and
little to none in the way of real evidence.

True.

Quoted message said:

I think the wiki is a good place for this sort of info, because it
tends
to end up effectively peer reviewed into something approaching a
pretty good consensus. For sea-salt it doesn't note any particular
health benefit, though it does note an iodine deficiency which can be
problematical with it.

Unless you eat a lot of fish, which I do.

Quoted message said:

It does bear out the different taste, mind.

There's no doubt about that.

Quoted message said:

I think the salient point is I can't find any government/NHS health
advice saying it's better for me, and the consensus case that is the
Wiki doesn't claim it or point to good evidence either.

Perhaps they don't know enough about it yet? Wouldn't be the first time
incorrect assumptions were made about food.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

It's a well known fact that processed foods aren't as healthy as
foods in their natural state, so why would salt be any different?

Because most of what you get in sea salt is NaCl crystals, while most
of what you get in table salt is NaCl crystals.

Fair point.

Quoted message said:

Impurities in the
supporting cast aside, the NaCl crystal is what meets the digestion
process, and I doubt that it'll make much difference to it where it
came from. The processing doesn't really alter the fundamental thing
much, just makes it a bit easier to package.

But then there's the additives.

Quoted message said:

In summary, if you prefer the taste is a pretty damn good reason, but
any health benefits are arm-waving speculation AFAICT.

Maybe, maybe not, but thanks for your reasoned argument. I'll keep an open
mind about this. My natural inclination at the moment though, is to avoid
any kinds of food processing if possible.

The bottom line though, is that I eat very little salt anyway. The last
packet I bought must have been bought at least 10 years ago, and it's still
over half full. The new one I've bought will probably last at least 5 years,
if not longer. I just don't eat much salt, so it's not likely to make much
difference either way.

Paul
--
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk/
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk/weblog/
http://www.wilderness-wales.co.uk/weblog/pic-of-the-day/comet-holmes/

Paul Saunders said:

Funnily enough, I've never noticed gold included in any mineral supplement
I've seen! Not that it's necessarily good for you, but apparently a lot of
trace elements are.

I'm not aware of any particular bodily need for Au, so a bit of a moot
point. The point of mineral/vitamin supplements is to give you things
you might need but may not be getting for whatever reason (i.e., diet of
burgers and chips and nothing else) in simple form. If gold were useful
in trace amounts be sure someone would be charging for it.

Quoted message said:

What are the symptoms anyway?

Depends on where the deficiency lies. Most people don't have
deficiencies, and are basically healthy. I'm basically healthy so i
don't play hypochondriacs and worry about trace deficiences, if I wasn't
basically healthy I'd have some cause to find out why.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Since official sources, e.g. the Department of Health, are doing their
damnedest to get us to cut down I don't see why affecting sales would
bother them. And I can't see any particular reason why they wouldn't
say sea salt was healthier if anyone genuinely thought it was.

Fair point, but some people clearly think it is.

Some people think you'll be healthier if you sleep next to crystals...

Quoted message said:

Perhaps they don't know enough about it yet? Wouldn't be the first time
incorrect assumptions were made about food.

perhaps, but that argument works both ways.

Quoted message said:

Maybe, maybe not, but thanks for your reasoned argument. I'll keep an open
mind about this. My natural inclination at the moment though, is to avoid
any kinds of food processing if possible.

In which case get some rock salt and lick it, which involves very much
less processing than the sea-salt industry. If you wander along the
beach, do you find neatly sorted large distinct salt crystals like you
find in a packet of sea salt? You don't, they get that way through
processing.

Quoted message said:

The bottom line though, is that I eat very little salt anyway. The last
packet I bought must have been bought at least 10 years ago, and it's still
over half full. The new one I've bought will probably last at least 5 years,
if not longer. I just don't eat much salt, so it's not likely to make much
difference either way.

Absolutely. If you eat a lot of fish you'll be getting plenty of salt
that way (if they're sea-fish, at least...). And that will be
unprocessed sea salt to boot.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/