"WHENEVER YOU FIND that you are on

the side of the majority;' wrote Mark Twain,

"it is time to reform:'
Salt gets a bad rap. The oft-repeated man
tra is that excessive salt causes hypertension
and high blood pressure, which in turn lead
to heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovas
cular ailments. However, this campaign has
little foundation in science.
In 1972, the connection between salt and
hypertension came from two pieces of
research. One was the observation that popu
lations that ate little salt had virtually no
hypertension. But salt wasn't the only thing
lacking in those diets, and anyone. of those
could have been the cause. The second
involved lab rats that developed hypertension
on a high-salt diet. However, the amount these
rats took in was 60 times more than what the
average American consumes.
Although researchers acknowledged that
the data were inconsistent, the link between
salt and blood pressure became cemented in
the public consciousness as fact.
A study published in the August 2011
issue ofthe American Journal ofHypertension,
involving 6,250 subjects, found no strong evi
dence that cutting salt intake reduces the risk
for heart attacks, strokes or death.
In fact, the risk for heart disease was 56
percent higher for the low-salt group than for
the group that consumed the most salt. The
conclusion the researchers came to was, the
less salt you eat, the more likely you will die
from heart disease, something that com
pletely contradicts conventional views.
According to "It's Time to End the War
on Salt;' in the July 8, 2011, issue of Scientific
American, "Intersalt, a large study published
in 1988, compared sodium intake with blood
pressure in subjects from 52 international
research centers and found no relationship
between sodium intake and the rate of hyper
tension. In fact, the population that ate the
most salt, about 14 grams [14,000 mg] a day,
had a lower median blood pressure than the
population that ate the least, about 7.2 grams
[7,200 mg] a day. Studies that have explored
the direct relationship between salt and heart
disease have not fared much better:'
II Without salt, we
couldn't exist. II
-Tonia Winchester
The recommended daily allowance (RDA)
for sodium (salt) is 2,400 mg. But Sally Fallon
Morell, president of the Weston A. Price
Foundation, a nonprofit nutrition education
foundation dedicated to accurate scientific
information about diet and health, says the
RDA is too low. from 1991 indicates
that people need about one and one-half tea
spoons of salt [7,400 mg] per day;' says Fallon
Morell. less triggers a cascade of
hormones to recuperate sodium from the
waste stream, hormones that make people vul
nerable to heart disease and kidney problems.
"This is proven biochemistry,' she contin
ues. "Yet, the FDA [US. Food and Drug
Administration] and the USDA [U.S.
Department of Agriculture] want to mandate
drastically restricted sodium consumption at
about one-half teaspoon [2,464 mg] per day:'
What happens if you consume too much
salt? Well, you become thirsty. You drink water
or, even better, fruit juice, which is rich in
potassium, an antagonist to sodium. You then
urinate out your excess sodium.
Doctors and nutritionists: do emphasize
the difference between refilled and unrefined
salt. Refined salt, which is processed at high
temperatures, removing the beneficial trace
minerals, is 97.5 percent sodium chloride and
approximately 2.5 percent anti-caking chemi
cal additives, plus a little iodine. Unrefined
salt, which is 84 percent sodium chloride with
calcium, magnesium and essential trace min
erals, is either freshly dried from the sea, as in
Celtic sea salt, or mined from ancient inland
ocean beds, as in Himalayan salt. This is the
form of salt the body is programmed to use.
"Without salt we couldn't exist;' says
Costco member Tonia Winchester, a naturo
path in Nanaimo, British Columbia. "All our
nerve, muscle and body reqUire this
mineral to function and <1ommunicate.
[Refined table salt] is an salt. To
ensure consumption of all the required trace
minerals, I recommend addingsmall amounts
of unrefined sea salt to one's food daily."
How much salt you need depends on vari
ables such as your local climate, your activity
level at work and at play, and, of course, your
eating habits. However, contrary to conven
tional wisdom, research indicates that too little
salt may be more harmful than too much. [14
Costco member Bruce Burnett is a chartered
herbalist and author ofHerbWise: Growing,
Cooking, Wellbeing (Herbwise, 2002).
The Costco COmtectlOD
You'll find three Kirkland Signat1Jre"" sea
salts at Costco: pure sea salt 384732),
Mediterranean sea Salt (item 261104)
and the new Himalayan Pink Sflt grinder
(item 656537). :
SEPTEMBER 2012 The Casted Connection 37