Q&A: Which is Better For You: Sea Salt or Table Salt?

Q&A: Which is Better For You: Sea Salt or Table Salt?

Neither qualify as a health food, but does one offer more nutrients than the other?

The question: Lately, you hear so much about sea salt being more nutritious—but is it actually healthier?

The expert: Janet Brill, Ph.D., R.D., a nutritionist and author of Blood Pressure Down 

The answer: Sea salt is the latest food to be crowned with a health halo—and it's trendy too, showing up on restaurant menus and product labels for everything from pretzels to deli meats. But the truth is, the only difference between sea salt and its old- school cousins table salt and kosher salt are the cut and size of the crystals.

"When sea salt is made, it's cut so the grains are coarser and larger," says Brill. "But that doesn't make it any better for you. The sodium level is the same as table salt, and even though marketers might claim sea salt contains healthy minerals, the amounts are too minuscule to matter." Iodized table salt contains iodine, which is key for healthy thyroid functioning. But most of us get enough iodine from the salt in processed foods, says Brill, so this isn't really a huge health benefit. A quarter teaspoon of sea salt, meanwhile, racks up 560 milligrams of sodium, while the same amount of table salt packs 590 milligrams (the American Heart Association recommends no more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day). "You could make the case that kosher salt has a slight edge over the other two," says Brill. "A quarter teaspoon has 470 milligrams of sodium because it's processed as a flake rather than a grain," says Brill. "But the difference is not really significan t."

The bottom line? The whole sea salt as health food thing is pretty overblown, especially since most of us take in way more sodium than we actually need. This raises our risk of developing high blood pressure, which in turn is linked to strokes and heart disease. So rather than trying to find a healthy salt, it's smarter to take steps to reduce your sodium intake. "We get 75 percent of our daily sodium intake from processed foods that don't even taste salty," says Brill. (Just check out these five foods with more sodium than a bag of chips). "So aside from a tiny dash of salt on your meals, try to keep your salt intake to a minimum. Boost food flavor with things like herbs, spices, lemon juice, and olive oil instead."

MORE: Healthy Foods That Satisfy Salt and Sugar Cravings 

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