'Tis the seasoning, Part II

In the December 6 edition of Daily Dose I started telling you about the myths associated with salt and high blood pressure. I also promised to tell you a bit more about how this myth started. Here's the rest of the story.

In the 1940s, Wallace Kempner, a Duke University researcher, created the now famous "rice diet" for treating hypertension. Patients on this diet ate only rice and peaches. When their blood pressure levels dropped, researchers jumped to the hasty conclusion that the elimination of salt must have done the trick.

But, as so often happens in science, they overreacted and forgot about the problem of confounding factors that can completely negate the best-laid plans of mouse or man - especially man. These factors, such as calorie and fat restriction, exercise, potassium intake, magnesium intake, alcohol (increase or decrease, depending on the patient), etc. can cause a reduction in blood pressure (or an elevation) not related at all to salt restriction.

Salt is an essential element in your diet, and it is important that you get the highest quality just as with any other nutrient. In fact, studies have shown that salt restriction may be linked to organ damage. So let's talk a bit about what salt is best for you and what the food companies have done to make commercial salt a toxin rather than a nutrient.

Not all salts are created equal. Morton's salt is an industrial product made for the chemical industry, not your table. Ninety percent of this industrial grade salt goes to the chemical industry and the rest to the grocery store, and your dinner table. Refined salt has been stripped of its natural nutrients. It contains additives like ferrocynide and silicates (which are basically sand) to prevent the salt from mixing with water and caking, so that it will pour easily. But if the salt won't mix with water and your body is made up of 70 percent water, it won't mix in your body either.

The only salt worthy of your consideration is sea salt from a clean seabed. Don't be fooled: If the label says "U.S. crude salt," it doesn't mean the contents are pure. Crude salt is unrefined industrial salt. It may be unrefined, but it has been mined from a source that is most likely heavily contaminated with heavy metals. Sea salt is the only option. Look for it at your favorite health food store.