Salt is Salt - Part 2

Almost seven years ago I wrote here about the sea salt scam. In that piece I quoted Mayo Clinic as saying, “Sea salt and table salt have the same basic nutritional value, despite the fact that sea salt is often marketed as a more natural and healthy alternative.” The American Heart Association (AHA) agreed.

But then a few weeks ago, I ran across an article with the headline: “How Pink Salt Took Over Millennial Kitchens.” Immediately it goes on to explain that, like sea salt, it’s not healthier than common table salt. It’s labeled as Himalayan, but does not come from the Himalayas. “Most of that comes from the enormous Khewra Salt Mine, situated between Islamabad and Lahore in Punjab, a bit south of the actual Himalayas in Pakistan.” 

Despite that, it has become another foodie fad, skyrocketing in popularity, featured at Trader Joes with it’s own grinder. The popularity stems not only from the color – it’s prettier than plain old white salt – but because it’s also rumored to be healthier. Take the warnings from the AHA and others about salt consumption, combine that with the fact that salt makes food taste good, mix that with the mistaken notion that this special salt is really healthy because of some mythological “trace minerals” and voila! - gullible people are willing to pay $2.70 a pound at Costco in bulk. For comparison, sea salt at Costco goes for 1.76 per pound and Morton Salt at a restaurant wholesale site is $0.38. Those must be some expensive trace minerals!

Contrary to what pink salt enthusiasts claim, real nutritionists agree that the amount of trace minerals in any salt “is too minuscule to make any difference, and we already get plenty of the same trace minerals from other foods.” Another site confirms that “The ‘84 minerals’ in himalayan salt is an unsupported claim.” It’s all marketing hype.

It’s so easy to go on line, though, to find glowing endorsements of pink salt pushing these imaginary health benefits. This one is a good example: “Many people believe that this pink salt is the purest salt that can be found on the planet.” Maybe so, but many people believe a lot of things that aren’t true.

In case you aren’t convinced by the purity and naturalness alone, it goes on to claim that pink salt stores “vibrational energy,” whatever that is. Supposedly it aids vascular health, supports respiratory functions, reduces the signs of aging, promotes healthy sleep patterns, increases libido, lowers blood pressure, and detoxifies the body of heavy metals – among other benefits. (Apparently, to get some of these benefits, we must add it to our bath water.)

First, the word detoxify should raise warning flags to anyone with any scientific understanding of how the human body functions. Second, the idea that any salt lowers blood pressure flies in the face of all medical understanding. Increased salt consumption increases the risk of high blood pressure. Finally, supports and promotes are words often used by snake oil salesmen regarding all sorts of magical supplements, potions and ointments to cure all sorts of ailments. Promoting and supporting cannot be measured, thus they are meaningless. It’s junk science at it’s finest.

But don’t let that stop Millennials searching for the magic potions allowing them to live forever. Set the grinder of pretty pink salt on the table to impress friends and mix it with the bathwater to increase libido and conquer aging. Then wonder why you are no healthier or younger looking and can’t afford to retire when you expect to. They fall for hype and fads in the same way their parents do. Gullibility must be hereditary.

Abandoning Critical Thinking

We are faced every day with friends and neighbors who seem to be able to stare logic straight in the face and still make the wrong decision. This can easily be misinterpreted as stupid behavior, except we know that many of these people did well in school. Some even have advanced degrees. How else can we explain this apparent abandonment of critical thinking?

My theory is that, contrary to conventional wisdom, opinion polls and the apparent direction of popular trends, America is still a very religious country and is getting more religious with each passing day. The difference is that I am not talking about standard, organized religions. The new religions involve pseudoscience and are promoted by personal interactions, especially on social media, and by celebrity endorsements, rather than by priests, ministers, rabbis and imams. 

Consider how a traditionally religious person reacts when his faith is challenged. Show someone an obvious contradiction in the Bible or the Koran – and there are many to choose from – and such a person will argue for a while, but eventually fall back on the argument that it's a mystery only God can explain or that it is a matter of faith not subject to logical analysis. End of conversation! No one has changed his mind. He may even feel vindicated because his faith was challenged but endured.

Now have a similar conversation with someone convinced that communication with the dead is not only possible, but that it happens frequently on daytime TV and in private homes where mediums hold séances. No matter how much logical information such a person receives, a change of mind is a rare occurrence. A more likely response is the same quasi-religious reaction, resistance to logic and reliance on a strong belief in the spiritual realm.

But this new-age religious experience is not limited to the customers of séances and tarot card readings. With the help not only of charlatans, but also of marketing departments, industry institutes, lobbyists, interest groups, fund-raising organizations and individual crusaders, it spreads through the entire country creeping into every corner of our lives. It is so much easier to sell to people on the basis of faith than on the basis of logic. So all these forces work in concert to gain converts to particular products, services and ideas. The emotional argument draws them in; then the feeling of embarrassment or of betrayal of one's beliefs, keeps them coming back.

Consider the religious fervor displayed by backers of ideas like: harm from vaccination, danger of GMOs, danger of fluoridated tap water, superiority of bottled water, benefits of a gluten-free diet (except for medical necessity), power of alternative medicines, danger of anything artificial or chemical, dietary supplements, radiation from power lines, food irradiation, sea salt, therapeutic touch or Reiki, refusal to consider nuclear power as a clean electricity source, super foods, unquestioned halo-effect of words like green, natural, sustainable and ancient wisdom, essential oils, and the list goes on and on.

Yes, we are truly a religious nation. The religions of junk science, fads, hype and misinformation are thriving, converting new believers every day!

Salt is Salt

Here we go again with an attempt to disguise sea salt as natural and healthy, and the advertisers trying to do it work for a fast food chain.  Telling us that it’s “time to indulge,” Arby's is advertising, for a limited time, a “Salted Caramel Shake topped with whipped cream and a sprinkle of Hawaiian Sea Salt.”

They do present it as decadent, but I can’t help thinking that the reference to Hawaiian Sea Salt is meant to appeal to those 61 percent who believe – incorrectly –that sea salt offers a low-sodium, healthier alternative to table salt.  (See “Sea Salt Scam?” from January 11, 2013)

Push the nutritional information tab on the ad and discover that it contains 680 calories (190 from fat) and 1400mg of sodium.  That’s almost 1/3 of the USDA recommended daily calories for a moderately active adult and over 93% of the maximum daily sodium intake recommended by the American Heart Association.  This is just the drink or dessert that goes with the rest of a meal!

Why would a national corporation offer such a product?  It’s because they have sales objectives and rightly expect people to buy it.  This is not meant to imply that Arby's is evil or unethical.  They are just doing business, using the same tactics to get us to buy their products as many others do.  They tell us to relax, indulge, that we have earned it.  Then they use the sea salt as a supposedly healthy justification.  As long as we give in to such rationalization and continue to be taken in by these (so-called) health food marketing ploys, relying on labels like all-natural, green, chemical-free, organic and sea salt instead of getting the real science from reliable sources, we are vulnerable.

Once again we must ask ourselves, is the obesity epidemic something for the government to solve?  Should they outlaw this and every other high-fat, high-sodium goody that businesses dream up and promote?  Will strict federal rules about school lunches keep kids away from this when they're out of school?  Face it, the obesity epidemic is of our own making and only we can solve it, through courage, hard work, understanding and a lot of discipline.  As long as there is a market for shakes, and sea salt continues to be viewed as a healthy alternative, temptation will be out there.