503 Salt and Potassium

Stay Healthy Naturally May 20, 2020

In a recent newsletter Dr. Michael Murray (doctormurray.com) wrote about the importance of the potassium to sodium ratio in our diets. Our daily requirements of these two essential minerals are 2,300mg sodium and 4,700mg of potassium. A typical American diet contains 2,500 to 7,500 mg of sodium (up to 3X too high) and only 2,500 mg potassium (about half of what’s needed). I wrote about sodium back in 2013 #222 Salt - how much is too little?]

One way to counter this imbalance is in the salt we use. Most salts - including many of the fancy health food salts like Celtic gray salt or Himalayan pink salt - are mostly sodium with only a trace of potassium. A few salts are formulated to have equal or even higher potassium, and taste just fine. By the way, the pink color in Himalayan salt (and in potash mined in Saskatchewan) comes from iron oxide (rust) not the potassium.

Here is a table showing the amounts of these key minerals in a variety of salts.

Salt Sodium (mg/g) Potassium (mg/g)
Refined Table Salt 391 0.9
Redmond Real Salt 378 1.0
Celtic Gray Sea Salt 338 1.6
Himalayan Pink Salt 382 3.5
Ideal Protein Salt 192 254

The miniscule amounts of other minerals, including iodine [see #282 Iodized Salt], in the unrefined salts are not significant for your health. Salt mined from ancient deposits are more likely to be free of pollutants. True sea salts, like Celtic Gray salt, are made by evaporating ocean brine and may also contain micro-plastics.

For more information on this or other natural health topics, stop in and talk to Stan; for medical advice consult your licensed health practitioner. Find this article on my website for links to sources and further reading.

501 - Oregano Coronavirus study

This article was sent to me by a supplier rep from a company that markets another brand of oregano oil products. The two oregano products used in the study are Oreganol P73 Extra Strength and Oregacyn both by North American Herb and Spice (NAHS). I have three NAHS oregano products in stock - OregaMax 90 caps, Oreganol Super Strength P73 120 caps; and Oreganol P73 Super Strength drops.