Salt is not only an indispensable seasoning for food, it is critical to life. Humans and animals alike need salt. Aside from this basic necessity, salt is a useful natural remedy internally and externally for many health conditions, including urinary tract infections, constipation, ringworm, boils, sinus congestion and a sore throat.
Salt is made up of two elements, sodium and chloride. The chemical symbol is NaCl.
Balanced salt levels in the body will maximize health. Too little or too much salt can cause health problems or even death. Animals also need salt. Farm stores sell salt licks for animals like rabbits and cows. These animals will natural lick the salt when their bodies require it. It is a wonderful thing that salt is so beneficial; it makes food taste wonderful!
A 110 pound person has about 40 teaspoons of sodium chloride in the body.1 By weight, a person has a similar concentration of salt as sea water. The presence of salt is realized if tears are sweat are ever tasted.
However, all salts are not created equal. Decades ago consumers had little choice when it came to salt. Currently even small grocery stores sell a variety of salt products. So the question becomes, which salt is best?
Usually when it comes to health, foods and remedies that have been processed the least are ideal.
Types of Salt
Processed Salts
Iodized table salt is a processed salt. The trace minerals in the salt have been removed. Iodine, another critical element to life and health is added. And other chemicals are added as flow agents and anti-caking agents. These would include tricalcium phosphate and sodium aluminosilicate.
Mined Salts
Other salts are mined from the earth. If they are not further processed they will contain salt (sodium chloride) and dozens of other trace minerals that can be used by the body.
Evaporated Salts
Salts that have been harvested from the seas, like mined salts, contain an abundance of trace minerals, unless they are further processed.
Mined and harvested salts are, pound for pound, much more expensive that common table salt. However, even the pricier salts go a long way and do not make a noticeable dent in the budget for most consumers.
Current marketing can make it difficult to decide which unprocessed salt is the most health promoting. One may claim to have 50 trace minerals, while another will claim 80 trace minerals. However, unprocessed salts are composed mostly (about 98%) of simply salt (NaCl) and the remaining 2% will be trace minerals. With the RDA for salt being about ¾ of a teaspoon, 2% of ¾ teaspoon will not amount to much. These 2% of minerals certainly can contribute to overall health but they are not going to overcome a poor diet and lifestyle.
Another marketing claim is that mined salts are superior to salts that come from modern oceans and seas since mined salts have not been affected by pollution as the waters of the earth currently are.
All that said, it does still make sense to avoid processed foods, including salt and invest in an unprocessed salt. A bonus is that unprocessed salt tastes better, too! The trace minerals in a quality salt will compliment a healthful diet and lifestyle.
8 Health Benefits of Sea Salt
1. Rehydration
Hospitals routinely use a saline (salt) I.V. to give fluids to a patient. The salt helps the body to retain the needed water.
During times of illness that include fever, vomiting or diarrhea, it is necessary to replace lost fluids from sweating or purging. Adding a pinch of salt to a glass of water or juice will keep the water from being flushed out of the body.
Hot days and strenuous exercise can cause excessive sweating. Rehydrating with water plus a pinch of sea salt will help replace the salt the body has lost during sweating.
2. Urinary Tract Infection
½ to 1 teaspoon of sea salt, added to ½ – 1 glass of water is a natural remedy for bladder infections. This remedy may only be needed one time to be effective.
3. Salt Sock
A clean white tube sock can be filled with salt and tied off at the end. This salt sock can be heated up in the microwave (some keep a microwave just for this purpose!) and used on a ear for an ear ache. The salt can help draw out excess moisture.
Keeping the salt sock in the freezer will provide a ready made cold pack for bumps and bruises or to use on the base of the neck for a headache or migraine.
4. Gargle
For a sore or dry throat a sea salt gargle will help thin post nasal drip, alleviate dryness and kill germs in the throat.
Mix ¼ teaspoon salt into ½ cup warm water and gargle. Repeat the gargle as needed.
5. Mouth Rinse
The same solution used for gargling can be used to rinse the mouth to relieve canker sores. ( ¼ teaspoon salt in ½ cup warm water.)
6. Sinus Rinse
Sea salt sinus rinses can be used in a Neti pot to rinse the sinuses to help a sinus infection, relieve congestion, remove pollen and allergens, or help with overly dry sinuses.
Simply add ½ teaspoon sea salt to a cup of warm water and use the mixture in a Neti pot.
If a Neti pot is not available, try snorting the mixture up into the nose, one nostril at a time. The salt water can also be dripped into the nose with an eyedropper. (This may be the easiest way to get salt water into children’s noses!)
7. Nebulization
Vials of saline solution (salt solution) are commonly used in nebulizers. This can bring moisture to the lungs and delivers salt to the lungs for antimicrobial purposes.
8. Bath
Sea salt added to bath water can help to clear up skin conditions like boils and eczema. 1 cup of sea salt is added to a bath.
Continue reading to find out how our readers have benefited from sea salt! Please let us know how you use sea salt for your health!
Sources:
1. http://www.sciencefocus.com/qa/how-much-salt-human-body
I am amazed how well sea salt works on the pain from an Urinary tract infection. I was in pain for days and then 30 minutes after drinking a glass of water with one teaspoon of salt I feel almost back to myself. I am writing this the next day, I took it last night and I feel great today. I have an autoimmune disease and take prednisone so I am more susceptible to uti's. Thank you Ted for the salt remedy!!!
This is important. If you take half a teaspoon of Sea Salt or more in water, don't leave the house, and if you do, don't let out any air, it will not be just air. Sea salt gives very little warnings on the way out. Someone forgot to tell me that.
I started the sea salt cure about 3 weeks ago and two noticeable things have happened…My Blood pressure has gone down to 120/88 from 142/90 and my toe fungis is gone …. I was so excited! I drink 32 oz twice a day with 1/8 teaspoon of sea salt…Who new?? 🙂
Hi, I was hoping to use a salt foot bath. Does anyone know which is better epsom salt bath or sea salt bath. Some one said that epsom salts contains sulpher. How much salt exactly would you use, and how long would you leave feet in it for. I do believe it is used for detox so is it ok to use while on medication? Also is a plastic basin ok or what is the best material? Thanks
Mikaela: I take one mineral foot bath daily. I use as many minerals as possible, including Epsom Salt (Magnesium Sulfate). I use a standard plastic bathing container.
I use sea salt and filtered water for pink eye/conjunctivitis all the time. I have 4 kids and for some reason they are susceptible to pink eye. (I’ve gotten it a few times from treating them… Very contagious) I have little rubber 1/4 c dishes (from kitchen) and use them to mix 1/8 tsp sea salt with 1/4 c water. I make the child put eye up to cup and tip head back (kind of suctions to their eye), they open eye as much as they can, then dump out and rinse container. Do same with other eye. Don’t cross contaminate or will spread to other eye. Only takes about 3-4 days. I do it 3 or more times a day. Dry with a clean, new cloth each time. Do not rub eyes with same hand… Will spread. Might sting slightly, but usually their eyes feel better almost right away.
I wanted to bring awareness to a new, natural way to help respiratory ailments.
Salt Therapy/ Halotherapy helps clients with respiratory and skin ailments like asthma, allergies, COPD, smokers cough, sinusitis, cystic fibrosis, bronchitis, psoriasis, eczema, and much more. The salt’s natural and soothing properties are also beneficial for anyone searching for immune system boosting, relaxing, cleansing, and de-stressing environment.
Salt Therapy/ Halotherapy is 100% natural, safe and drug free. It provides effective relief from respiratory ailments and skin conditions without any side effect. Salt acts like an expectorant, accelerating mucus clearance and improving lung function while killing harmful bacteria and soothing the respiratory system.
A tremendous amount of scientific research has been conducted which proves how salt therapy can help relieve symptoms of respiratory illnesses and skin condition. In fact, a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that long-term treatment in a salt room had a positive impact on lung function and reduced pulmonary exacerbations.
Salt Therapy/ Halotherapy brings you the microclimate found in salt caves and mines in a controlled “cave like” environment. The salt rooms are covered from floor to ceiling with multiple layers of sea salt. During each session Pharmaceutical Salts are crushed in the halogenerator and dispersed into the Salt Rooms. Salt releases high concentrations of negative ions, which increase the flow of oxygen to the brain; resulting in higher alertness, decreased drowsiness, gives more energy and creates an environment virtually free of bacteria.
During a 45 min session adults and children can relax, enjoy music, watch TV, play or read in the salt covered rooms while breathing in microscopic salt particles.There are numerous Salt Rooms, Halotherapy Rooms available within the United States. (Orlando , Florida; Planto, Texas; Phoenix, Arizona; Los Angeles & Campbell, California)
I heard many wonderful recoveries from people who used Salt Therapy, it might be a good option for others to try.
2/20: my mother takes first dose of sole and artesian water
2/22: reports ‘slept like a hog’
2/24: awakes to sugar level of 109 (regularly 130 because she eats late at night); also reports heavy phlegm discharge each morning…
More to come…
I really want to thank this site for being so amazing! I had been suffering from what I believe is a bad uti, since about a couple weeks ago. I was so despirate and hurting a lot when urinating and wanting to go really frequently. I had gotten rid of a previous uti over two months ago – I had aquired it during a bad broncial infection -. Then I got sick again about two weeks ago with a sinus cold and bit of the flu. This caused the uti to come back and flare up stronger then ever! I was so despirate and couldn't do anything. I couldn't go out for long periods where having access to a washroom was very limited. I couldn't do much at all without wanting to practically live my life sitting on the toilet. There was no bleeding at least but I was up and down every 5 seconds sometimes, especially during the day. The only thing that supressed it a bit was drinking about 750ml of water minimum before 4pm in the day and then at least that much again before 8pm at night. I still felt like I had to go more then normal but it wasn't as bad and I wasn't going every 5 seconds and feeling intense pain. I only felt a small bit of pain.
Finally I decided to do some research on the net to see if there was anything I had at home to use as a natural remedy. I had done a few things already. Drinking Cranberry juice, calcium suppliments and upping my dietray fiber intake but they didn't do much at all. So despirately googling for some answers brought me to this site and immediately my eyes found the words sea salt. I then clicked it and read the posts.
So thank you for posting about the sea salt and water treatment. Definently the one dose overnight effectiveness and the fact that I already had some caused me to try it but it was so worth it! I'm barely going more then usual now – unless I'm drinking a lot of water – and I don't feel any pain, stinging or burning!
I am so happy to be free from all that suffering! 😀
Side effect reported
Hi, I tried to do a salt flush today & was only able to drink 2 cups of the salt water before I became nauseated. (1Tbsp pink salt & 1 qt warm water). Each morning I drink 1 tsp salt water. I’m not sure what caused the illness. It passed after a few minutes. Does anyone have any ideas why I would feel sick? thanks for your help. D from Fl.
It is half a teaspoon of salt to 2 quarts of water or one teaspoon per gallon of water?
Sometimes our body are toxic and anything that makes us sick may be from the body trying to cleanse out the toxins, so at first it is better to start slow and increase gradually this usually goes away in a short time.
Could Ted, Bill (… Or indeed someone else) please try to explain how refined/ common table salt loses its pH (from 7.5 to 5) when seemingly refined. I am a firm believer in the all-round benefits of pure sea salt, but it seems such a HUGE difference/ loss in pH. Also, who gets the benefit in actually refining table salt? Thanks.
Because the abundant micro-elements that accompany the sodium and chloride in sea salt act as buffers and support. Sea salt contains 80+ other trace elements, many of which help to keep the salt within relatively neutral parameters. Processed salt is just sodium chloride and nothing else. There is nothing to buffer the salt within the body, or help the body be able to use it properly. The plethora of micro-elements are extremely necessary. They may only be a very small part size-wise, but are vital. If a bridge had 80 bolts missing, would you be happy to drive across it…..?
Can anyone suggest salt body scrub recipes that are homemade (hence cheap and control what go in them). I do not want to pay $20 per jar in the stores.
Salt scrubs in general are very helpful in shifting the enErgy of the etheric / bio-plasmic body which in turn speeds up healing time from pretty much anything.
Thanks!
Hey T from Houston….. Probably an online search would yield many sites offering essential oil and herbal homemade recipes. I don’t use salt but have used granulated sugar – 1 cup – with a Tablespoon or two of almond oil or grapeseed oil; scented with the essential oil of your choice, it’s a very nice scrub! Stir prior to each use….. Janice Cox has some great reads re: homemade products. Have Fun!
I used to make a good salt scrub with sea salt, olive oil, raw honey (for moisturizing) and essential oils. Have used coconut oil too.
Is the sea salt taken in water or do you take it dry on a spoon? I doubt I could get it down if I had to take it “straight”
I put my salt in a liter bottle with water and sip on it throughout the day. I use an aluminum water bottle-I think it is best to avoid plastic. Of course, you can always just sprinkle more on your food, too.
Catherine I add it to my food. I make almond milk and add some to that as well. I even brush my teeth with it.
I wouldn’t use an aluminum water bottle… Get one of those (inexpensive) BP-free plastic bottles.
I occasionally take sea salt as a “broth-like” drink. I mix 1/2 tsp light grey celtic sea salt (use unrefined salt) with spring water. Heat water (don’t boil) on stove and add salt and about 1/2 cup of spring water then drink – you can use coffee cup size cup. Nice before bedtime.
Actually salt corrodes aluminum. And all available plastics are petroleum based which have MANY toxic elements in them besides just BPA. Try drinking from a glass bottle. I know it’s heavy, but so are the Burdens of ill health! God Bless! Ingrid
I would use glass of water if at all possible…thanks