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Jan 7, 2024 · Himalayan salt is a pink-hued variety of salt that is sourced in Pakistan. Learn about its minerals, health claims, and potential side effects, and how it compares to other salts.
Himalayan salt is rock salt (halite) mined from the Punjab region of Pakistan. The salt, which often has a pinkish tint due to trace minerals, is primarily used as a food additive to replace refined table salt but is also used for cooking and food presentation, decorative lamps, and spa treatments.
Sep 28, 2023 · Himalayan salt is a natural rock salt that contains dozens of minerals and trace elements. Learn how it can help your body detoxify, lower blood pressure, improve digestion, sleep and more.
- What Is Salt?
- What Is Pink Himalayan Salt?
- How Is Pink Himalayan Salt Used?
- Pink Himalayan Salt Contains More Minerals
- Are the Health Claims True?
- The Bottom Line
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Salt is a mineral largely consisting of the compound sodium chloride.
Salt contains so much sodium chloride — around 98% by weight — that most people use the words “salt” and “sodium” interchangeably.
Salt can be produced by evaporating salt water or extracting solid salt from underground salt mines.
Before it reaches your grocery store, table salt also goes through a refining process to remove impurities and any other minerals besides sodium chloride.
Anticaking agents are sometimes added to help absorb moisture, and iodine is often included to help consumers prevent iodine deficiency.
Humans have used salt to flavor and preserve foods for thousands of years.
Pink Himalayan salt is a pink-colored salt extracted from the Khewra Salt Mine, which is located near the Himalayas in Pakistan.
The Khewra Salt Mine is one of the oldest and largest salt mines in the world.
The pink Himalayan salt harvested from this mine is believed to have been formed millions of years ago from the evaporation of ancient bodies of water.
The salt is hand-extracted and minimally processed to yield an unrefined product that’s free of additives and thought to be much more natural than table salt.
Like table salt, pink Himalayan salt is mostly comprised of sodium chloride.
However, the natural harvesting process allows pink Himalayan salt to possess many other minerals and trace elements that are not found in regular table salt.
You Can Eat It or Cook With It
In general, you can cook with pink Himalayan salt just like you would with regular table salt. Put it in sauces and marinades or add it to your food at the dinner table. Some people even use pink Himalayan salt as a cooking surface. Large blocks of the salt can be purchased and used to grill, sear and impart a salty flavor to meats and other foods. Pink Himalayan salt can be purchased finely ground just like regular table salt, but it is not uncommon to also find coarse varieties sold in larger crystal sizes.
Considerations for Cooking
Whenever you’re measuring any kind of salt by volume, it’s important to consider how finely it’s ground. You may need to use larger quantities of coarse salt to match the saltiness of finely ground salt. This is because finely ground salt is packed closer together than coarse salt, so there’s more of it in a particular volume. For example, 1 teaspoon of any type of finely ground salt may contain around 2,300 mg of sodium, while 1 teaspoon of coarse salt will vary based on crystal size but could contain less than 2,000 mg of sodium. Furthermore, pink Himalayan salt contains slightly less sodium chloride than regular table salt, which you may need to account for when cooking. Current dietary guidelines in the US recommend that most adults consume no more than 2,300 mg of sodium per day. This is equal to around 1 teaspoon (6 grams) of finely ground salt (5). However, when you’re using pink Himalayan salt, it’s best to check the nutrition label, as sodium content can vary widely, depending on the brand.
Non-Dietary Uses
While pink Himalayan salt has several dietary uses, there are also a number of popular non-dietary uses. Pink Himalayan salt is used in some bath salts, which claim to improve skin conditions and soothe sore muscles. Salt lamps are also often made out of pink Himalayan salt and claimed to remove air pollutants. These lamps consist of large blocks of salt with an inner light source that heats the salt. Additionally, spending time in man-made salt caves formed out of pink Himalayan salt is popular among people seeking to improve skin and respiratory problems. But the research supporting these three non-dietary uses of pink Himalayan salt is relatively weak. More studies are needed to confirm these claims. Summary: You can use pink Himalayan salt just like regular salt when you’re cooking. Bath salts, salt lamps and salt caves are popular non-dietary uses of pink Himalayan salt.
Both table salt and pink Himalayan salt consist mostly of sodium chloride, but pink Himalayan salt has up to 84 other minerals and trace elements.
These include common minerals like potassium and calcium, as well as lesser-known minerals like strontium and molybdenum.
One study analyzed the mineral contents of various types of salts, including pink Himalayan salt and regular table salt (6).
Below is a comparison of well-known minerals found in a gram of the two salts:
As you can see, table salt may have more sodium, but pink Himalayan salt contains more calcium, potassium, magnesium and iron (6).
Nevertheless, the amounts of these minerals in pink Himalayan salt are very, very small.
Despite the fact that pink Himalayan salt only contains tiny amounts of additional minerals, many people still claim that it can provide a number of health benefits.
The truth is, most of these claims do not have any research to support them.
Some of pink Himalayan salt’s commonly promoted health claims include that it can:
•Improve respiratory diseases
•Balance your body’s pH
•Reduce signs of aging
Given all of the misguided health claims, it’s easy to see why some people are confused about which type of salt to use.
But no studies have compared the health effects of pink Himalayan salt and regular table salt. If they were to, it’s unlikely that they’d report any differences.
Nonetheless, if you’d like to avoid the additives in regular table salt, pink Himalayan salt is a great natural alternative. But don’t expect to see the major health benefits that you might read about online.
And remember that table salt is a major dietary source of iodine, so if you’re using pink Himalayan salt, you will need to get iodine from other foods like seaweed, dairy products and fish to help avoid iodine deficiency (11).
Learn the differences between pink Himalayan salt and regular table salt, including their mineral content, sodium levels and health benefits. Find out how to use pink Himalayan salt for cooking, bathing, lamps and caves.
Dec 7, 2023 · Himalayan salt is a pink salt mined in Pakistan that contains 84 minerals and trace elements. Learn how it differs from regular salt, what it can do for your health, and how to use it safely.
Oct 17, 2022 · What Is Himalayan Pink Salt? Himalayan pink salt is mined in the Salt Range mountains in the remote Punjab region of Pakistan, south of Islamabad. It's a form of rock salt that gets its pinkish color from impurities contained within the salt.
Sep 21, 2021 · Pink Himalayan salt is a type of salt that hails from Pakistan. As the name suggests, unlike sea salt, which is white, it’s pink in colour. This particular salt is appealing on two different levels – a) the light pink colour and b) the fact it’s reportedly more nutritious than sea salt. 1.
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