SALT: THE MIRACLE MINERAL

Salt has a very bad reputation, but it has the most amazing benefits.  Our bodies are 75% water, salty water, similar to seawater.  Over- consumption of salt is linked to high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke, so current guidelines recommend we keep our salt intake to less than 6g per day – about a level teaspoon full.  

We should get enough vitamins and minerals from the food we eat so long as we have a varied, fresh and healthy diet.  For example, let’s take carrots: 

• Carrots contain about 87% water, 12 of the body’s vital mineral salts in perfect balance, cooked carrots are an excellent source of vitamin A, moderately useful quantities of vitamin B, C and G, and provide the body with minerals such as potassium, iron, magnesium, sodium, manganese, silicon and iodine, as well as sulphur, phosphorus and chlorine. Carrots also offer a wonderfully balanced source of calcium. 

The same is true of all the fresh fruit and vegetables.  It’s only when we mess up the balance by eating processed, refined, over-cooked, ready-made, pre-packed foods, full of preservatives, colourings, etc, that the balance is upset.  It is the insufficiency of other minerals that hold onto and keep water inside the cells that causes blood pressure problems.  If you get the balance right, salt will have the opposite effect: it will lower blood pressure. 

The benefits of salt are almost miraculous when kept in the right balance

The body needs a certain amount of salt (sodium) to function properly.  It helps to maintain the concentration of body fluids at correct levels. It also plays a central role in the transmission of electrical impulses in the nerves, and helps cells to take up nutrients.  But apart from regulating many of the body’s functions, there are two benefits which may interest you:- 

Salt & the Respiratory System 

Salt is a powerful antihistamine and anti inflammatory, which means it will relieve asthma, clear the lungs and sinuses of mucous and reduce swelling of the lining of the sinuses.  I’ve read that if you drink a couple of glasses of water and them place some salt on your tongue, the relief is more effective for asthma than an inhaler and of course, without the toxicity.  It can also stop persistent dry cough, reducing the reliance on steroid nasal sprays and clear the lungs of mucus plugs and sticky phlegm, particularly in asthma, emphysema and cystic fibrosis sufferers.  Gargling with salty water and using a neti pot to cleanse the sinuses is a great way to reduce the proliferation of infections and guard against colds and ‘flu.  I rinse my eyes with salty water if they are itchy, blood shot or puffy. 

Salt & Skin Conditions 

Salt can have an almost miraculous effect on skin problems such as eczema and psoriasis.  Years ago, someone told me how she had to be bandaged up every night as a child to stop the itching of eczema.  The only relief she had was the summer holiday when she spent a lot of her time in the sea and the condition virtually disappeared.  The Dead Sea is a sanctuary for many psoriasis sufferers who claim similar results.  Rinsing your skin in salty water can help clear up break out of acne, too.

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