BTW, do you know what makes pink salt pink? Cobalt chloride, iron oxide, something else?
I’m pretty sure it is the cobalt chloride and iron oxide.
It also contains 84 or 86 other elements including lead and arsenic.
Yeah, While iron oxide is part of the earths crust, the idea of eating rust does make this product lose some appeal, as do the lead and arsenic. However, to put this into perspective, very little of our dietary iron comes from salt. I would herald the lentil for iron if that is what is needed.
All of the chemical analysis I have seen on Himalayan salt show sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium, magnesium to be the primary elements, listed in g/kg where as iron is listed as 38.9ppm..so to get any significant amount of iron from salt you’d need to consume 2.5 pounds per day. How much of the iron in salt is oxidized would be interesting to find out. It has been used as a pigment so probably a significant amount relatively speaking. Lead and arsenic are present at .10ppm and .01ppm, very little indeed which make one ask the question, does the nutrient value regardless of impurities of Himalayan salt make it a better decision than white table salt that is basically isolated sodium chloride that has been bleached, stripped of minerals and tossed with synthetic iodine? One is hand harvested, hand washed and sun dried, while the other is refined in a commercial building. Himalayan salt does have impurities, having said this, it is still said to be one of the purest salts on the market. I have always used unrefined sea salt from the salt flats in France, it also has impurities, but the mineral content is phenomenal. Is one more balanced than the other? Do the amounts of naturally occurring elements we deem toxic in large amounts affect us when consumed in salt? Is natural unrefined sea salt more dangerous than refined white table salt from rock deposits?
I think you are sending me down a rabbit hole which warrants a little more research and perhaps an article for my website titled Himalayan Sea Salt- Friend or Foe!
