Salt has its uses: It flavours food, keeps us from dying of a sodium deficiency (rare but real), and, well, that’s about it. And that’s true whether the salt is white or pink.
Oh but pink salt comes from the Himalayas. That sure sounds exotic, but it’s not like it’s better just because it comes from somewhere far away. Look, if you think salt lamps are pretty, feel free to enjoy that.
If you enjoy the crunchy vibe of meditating inside a room full of salt (and suspending disbelief enough to pretend it is a cave), then go ahead and book a meditation session at one of the artificial salt caves across the US that are lined with pink salt shipped in from other parts of the world. Weird, but you do you.
Salt is sodium chloride. We need both sodium and chloride in our bodies, although it’s possible to get too much (people with high blood pressure are often told to reduce the sodium levels in their diet).
Salt can have other minerals present in trace amounts. Pink salt gets its colour from iron. There’s not enough of the iron, or anything else, to significantly change the taste or the health effects of the salt.
But iron is good for you! Yes, and you can get it from beef, chicken, lentils, spinach, and other things not imported from the Himalayas.
But Himalayan salt has 84 minerals! Yeah, but it’s still 98 per cent sodium chloride. You know what else has 84 minerals? All the other food you eat.
Table salt is bad for your heart! This is a slightly complex issue, but pink salt and regular salt are both salt. If table salt is bad for you, then pink salt is too.
Himalayan salt is antibacterial and antifungal! In the sense that nothing will live inside a jar of salt, sure.
In conclusion, pink salt is salt. Enjoy it if you think it’s pretty.
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