Natural salt: sea salt and mountain salt

Updated October 2026 · 8 min read

Natural salt versus factory salt

Salt (الملح) is one of the oldest foods and medicines. Two kinds are on the shelf today:

• Natural salt: evaporated from sea water, or mined from ancient sea beds as rock salt, such as Himalayan pink salt. It is usually minimally processed, and often grey, pink or off-white.
• Refined table salt: industrially purified until it is almost pure sodium chloride, then given anti-caking additives. Iodine is usually added on purpose.

Both are mostly sodium chloride, about 97 to 99 percent. What natural salt adds is small amounts of other minerals, such as magnesium, potassium, calcium and, in pink salt, traces of iron. These give it color and a softer taste. The amounts are tiny. You would need to eat unsafe quantities of salt to get a meaningful amount of any of these minerals, so do not choose pink salt expecting it to replace a mineral supplement.

Still, there are good reasons to prefer natural salt: no anti-caking chemicals, no bleaching, a fuller taste so that you tend to use less, and it is closer to what people ate for centuries.

Salt in classical medicine

Salt (milh) appears in the foods-and-drugs compendia of the Islamic world, including the Jami' of Ibn al-Baytar. In the humoral system it is classed as hot and dry. Classical authors describe it as a seasoning and preservative, and as a medicine used to clean wounds, as a gargle and in tooth powders.

You will also see long lists online claiming that salt at the start and end of a meal cures dozens of diseases. These claims are not found in the classical medical texts and have no evidence behind them, so we do not repeat them. Salt is a staple of food, to be used well and in moderation, like everything else.

What salt does for the body

Sodium is not just a flavor. It is an essential mineral. Your body needs it to:

• keep the right amount of water in and around your cells
• send signals along nerves and make muscles contract
• keep blood volume and blood pressure steady
• absorb some nutrients in the gut

Too little sodium, called hyponatremia, causes headache, nausea, confusion and cramps, and can be dangerous. It happens to endurance athletes who drink large amounts of plain water and sweat heavily, and to people who are very ill or on certain medicines.

Traditional and practical uses with some support

• Oral rehydration. A measured mixture of salt and sugar in water is one of the most important medical discoveries of the last century. It has saved millions of lives from dehydration caused by diarrhea. This is strongly supported.
• Salt-water gargle. Half a teaspoon in a glass of warm water is common advice for a sore throat. It may ease discomfort. It will not cure an infection.
• Saline nose rinse. Rinsing the nose with sterile salt water can help with blocked sinuses and colds. Use boiled and cooled or distilled water, never plain tap water.
• Salt baths and sea water. Soaking in salt water or at the Dead Sea has some modest evidence for skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema.
• Heavy sweating. In very hot weather or long training, salt replaces what you lose in sweat.

Claims for salt lamps, "detox" salt drinks and mountain salt inhalers have no good evidence behind them.

Why bodybuilders avoid it, and why they shouldn't fear it

Sodium holds water. When someone eats more salt, they tend to hold a little more water, including under the skin, which can make muscles look softer and less defined. That is why many physique competitors cut salt in the last days before a show. The reasoning is real, but it is often overdone:

• The effect on appearance is modest and changes in a few days once your intake becomes steady.
• Sudden changes cause more trouble than a steady habit. Cutting salt hard and then eating it again is what produces the "bloated" look.
• Salt supports hydration, muscle contraction and the "pump" during training. Lifting on very little sodium can leave you flat and cramping, especially if you sweat a lot.
• Very low sodium combined with a lot of water, or with diuretics, is a known cause of dangerous electrolyte problems.

For most lifters the sensible approach is a normal, steady salt intake, a little more on heavy sweat days and none of the extreme tricks.

How much is enough?

The World Health Organization advises less than 5 grams of salt a day for adults, about one level teaspoon, which is roughly 2 grams of sodium. Most adults eat close to double that. Most of it does not come from the salt shaker but from bread, cheese, pickles, sauces, stock cubes, canned food, processed meat and fast food. In practice, a pinch of natural salt on home-cooked food is rarely the problem. The packets are.

Who should be careful

• high blood pressure, heart failure, kidney disease or liver cirrhosis, where your doctor may set a lower limit
• swelling of the legs or fluid retention
• lithium, because sodium changes affect its level
• babies and young children, who should not have salt added to their food
• anyone told by a doctor to follow a low-sodium diet

In Ramadan, a little salt with suhoor and iftar helps replace what you lose, but a very salty suhoor makes the day's thirst much harder.