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Pick your favorite salt and add a few dashes to unprocessed foods

 
Top Bistro Fries with grated Parmesan cheese, sea salt and parsley.
Top Bistro Fries with grated Parmesan cheese, sea salt and parsley.
Published Oct. 16, 2014

Americans consume too much sodium, according to the health messages we've received over the past decade. Yet supermarkets devote increasing shelf space to gourmet salts. Most consumers have little idea which salt to buy, or why sodium chloride (salt) is essential to their health. Some even look for iodized salt, mistakenly thinking it will be more beneficial.

According to the Salt Institute in Alexandria, Va., salt does more than improve the flavor of foods. It reduces bitterness (think broccoli, kale) and enhances sweetness without adding a single calorie (think watermelon). Salt is one the oldest food seasonings in the world.

But salt is associated with the increased risk of heart disease and stroke, so the Institute of Medicine in 2010 recommended gradually lowering sodium consumption nationwide by reducing its inclusion in processed foods and beverages. According to Rachel Adams, assistant editor for Food Product Design, "most of the sodium in the food supply is attributed to processed foods and foods prepared in restaurants."

To successfully reduce salt without giving up the taste, potassium chloride and monosodium glutamate (MSG) have been used. However, potassium chloride can produce an unappealing taste, so yeast extracts and soy sauce (another high-sodium ingredient) are gaining favor in food processing.

One easy way to control sodium intake is to start with fresh, unprocessed foods and add your own salt to taste. Selecting the most nutritious and ecologically healthy compound can be challenging. The primary production methods used for salt are underground mining and brine evaporation.

The evaporation of mineral springs in the Sacred Valley of Peru shows the ingenuity of the Inca in culling salt from ponds.

Pakistan is the primary source of Himalayan salt, which comes from an ancient ocean buried when the India subcontinent collided into the Asian landmass. Himalayan salt comes in pink and white, according to Mark Bitterman in Salt Block Cooking. Pink has more iron than white.

Black salt is an unrefined mineral salt from volcanic areas of India and Hawaii. It has a sulfur taste, is used in Ayurvedic medicine for digestive disorders and has the least sodium of commercially available products.

Celtic sea salt and other brine salts from northern European areas contain trace minerals: chromium, zinc, vanadium, boron and a small amount of iodine. They are dull gray.

Different salts have a different stimulation on the tongue. Place a small amount on the center of your tongue to decide which you like best.

Betty Wedman-St Louis is a licensed nutritionist and environmental health specialist in Pinellas County who has written numerous books on health and nutrition. Visit her website at betty-wedman-stlouis.com.