Celtic sea salt has been blowing up on the internet lately so I thought I would write about Celtic sea salt and other equally amazing salts. So, is Celtic sea salt really that great?! Well, Yes! Celtic sea salt deserves the attention it has been getting.

But the Celtic sea salt is always sold out everywhere and it can get expensive!

No worries, Celtic sea salt isn’t the only amazing salt out there. I’ll go into more detail about it though so you can make informed decisions for yourself. I’ll tell you all about this Celtic sea salt but will also tell you:

why salt is important
If salt should be limited
What type of salt we should be consuming
Some specific types of salt
Brands of salt I love

Why is salt so important?

Salt (sodium chloride) has many roles in the proper functioning of the body and our bodies absolutely NEED at least 1 ½ teaspoons of salt a day and even more when you are sweating from exercise, heat and when we are under stress. We need the chloride aspect of the salt for our bodies to make hydrochloric acid (stomach acid), and sodium to make some digestive enzymes, proper brain function (glial cells for nutrient/ energy transport and connective thinking), proper adrenal function, for maintaining blood pressure, production of many hormones, and for maintaining electrolyte and fluid balance (water follows salt!) (1).

Should salt be limited?

Whether you are getting your salt from Celtic sea salt or table salt, salt should not be restricted. Quality is important but poor quality is still better than none.

Not eating enough salt can lead to insulin resistance (2), can increase risk of death from heart disease (3) and heart failure (4), increase LDL cholesterol levels (5), increase risk of osteoporosis, as well as health complications where salt is needed in the body (like low HCL or poor adrenal function).

What type of salt should we be consuming?

The best salt to consume is natural, unrefined salt that contains all the trace minerals naturally found in it including magnesium. Salt should typically not be white - a white, free flowing salt indicates processing. Therefore look for salt that is gray, pink, or beige.

The “Celtic sea salt” name is actually a registered trademark in the USA by the company Selina Naturally. Selina Naturally sources their salts from different areas depending on their product. For instance, their Celtic sea salt comes from France while the Makai Pure comes from Hawaii.

There are also other brands that carry a Celtic sea salt. True Celtic sea salt (not the brand) refers to salt that is harvested in France using traditional harvesting methods - clay pools, wind, air, and the sun.

Some specific Types of salt

Table salt - table salt is refined salt which can be harvested from the sea or salt mines - there’s no distinction. It is stripped of its natural mineral content so that all the remains is sodium chloride. Table salt can sometimes contain anti-caking agents. In the processing of table salt, aluminum silicate is used to keep the salt dry and free flowing. All minerals are removed leaving only sodium chloride and whatever else manufacturers might add.

Sea salt - sea salt can be used for any salt that comes from the sea. It can be labeled sea salt even if it has been refined so this isn’t always a good indicator for quality salt.

Himalayan salt - pink himalayan salt is certainly the prettiest salt containing hues of white, light pink, and darker pinks. It naturally contains trace minerals and is mined near the himalayan mountains from an ancient sea bed. This salt is mined in Pakistan.

Celtic Sea Salt - as mentioned earlier, celtic sea salt comes from France and is gray in colour. It naturally contains trace minerals and is harvested using traditional methods. This salt has the highest moisture content.

Kosher salt - “kosher” here doesn’t mean the same thing as the “kosher” label you see on meats in the grocery store. Instead it refers to the size of the grain. This tells nothing about quality and can still be highly refined, containing no trace minerals, and can still contain anti-caking agents.

Brands of Salt I love

Redmond’s Real Salt - Redmond's real salt contains 62 naturally occurring trace minerals. It is mined from an ancient seabed in Utah, USA and is without additives, chemicals, or heat processing.

Selina Naturally Celtic Sea Salt - I like the Selina Naturally celtic sea salt brand and the variety of salts that they offer. They seem to have high standards for mineral content in the salt and similar standards in sourcing. They offer the gray celtic sea salt from France but have also branched out into other varieties of salts.

Maison Orphee - This is the same celtic sea salt that comes from France - just a different brand! Maison Orphee has similarly good products.

Baja Gold - Baja Gold sea salt is harvested on the sea of Cortez in Baja, California. It contains trace minerals and claims to come from waters that have not been subjected to contaminants like micro plastics in our oceans.

Pink Himalayan Salt - there isn’t a specific brand that I buy but I typically stick to some specific criteria - i don’t buy the cheap brands (I just can't trust the quality control and know that poor processing definitely happens) and I find the ones that do not have added iodine. I have used San Francisco Salt Company pink himalayan salt which I have found at Marshalls/ Homesense.

If you find a good pink himalayan salt that is readily available in Canada, let me know! So far, all the good ones I can find are in the US.

A note on Iodine

I don't care to have salt with added iodine (typically potassium iodide). This iodine added to sodium chloride is not readily absorbed by the body.

Yes, we need more iodine in our diet in the forms that it is found in nature and in food. It’s essential to our thyroid health and much more. So I make a point to include seaweeds in my family’s diet - one of the best sources of natural iodine (it’s also in eggs, liver, and seafood!).

A note on contamination

Celtic sea salt has been criticized for having trace amounts of plastics and other pollutants that have filled our oceans. Pink himalayan salt has been criticized for having trace amounts of lead. I would still choose these over table salt. I only point this out so that you can do your own research and make the best decisions for you and your family.

What type of salt do you use? Let me know in the comments!

References

Use unrefined salt liberally. www.westonaprice.org. (n.d.). https://www.westonaprice.org/wp-content/uploads/11Principles-chapter9.pdf

Garg, R., Williams, G. H., Hurwitz, S., Brown, N. J., Hopkins, P. N., & Adler, G. K. (2011). Low-salt diet increases insulin resistance in healthy subjects. Metabolism, 60(7), 965–968. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.metabol.2010.09.005

Stolarz-Skrzypek, K. (2011). Fatal and nonfatal outcomes, incidence of hypertension, and blood pressure changes in relation to urinary sodium excretion. JAMA, 305(17), 1777. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2011.574

Taylor, R. S., Ashton, K. E., Moxham, T., Hooper, L., & Ebrahim, S. (2011). Reduced dietary salt for the prevention of cardiovascular disease: A meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials (Cochrane review). American Journal of Hypertension, 24(8), 843–853. https://doi.org/10.1038/ajh.2011.115

Jürgens, G., & Graudal, N. (2002). Effects of low sodium diet versus high sodium diet on blood pressure, renin, aldosterone, catecholamines, cholesterols, and triglyceride. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.cd004022

Celtic Sea Salt