Himalayan salt is rock salt (halite) mined from the Punjab region of Pakistan. The salt, which often has a pinkish tint due to trace minerals, is primarily used as a food additive to replace refined table salt but is also used for cooking and food presentation, decorative lamps, and spa treatments. The product is often promoted with unsupported claims that it has health benefits.
Himalayan salt is mined from the Salt Range mountains, [1] the southern edge of a fold-and-thrust belt that underlies the Pothohar Plateau south of the Himalayas in Pakistan. Himalayan salt comes from a thick layer of Ediacaran to early Cambrian evaporites of the Salt Range Formation. This geological formation consists of crystalline halite intercalated with potash salts, overlain by gypsiferous marl and interlayered with beds of gypsum and dolomite with infrequent seams of oil shale that accumulated between 600 and 540 million years ago. These strata and the overlying Cambrian to Eocene sedimentary rocks were thrust southward over younger sedimentary rocks, and eroded to create the Salt Range. [2] [3] [4]
Local legend traces the discovery of the Himalayan salt deposits to the army of Alexander the Great. [5] However, the first records of mining are from the Janjua clan in the 1200s. [6] The salt is mostly mined at the Khewra Salt Mine in Khewra, Jhelum District, Punjab, Pakistan, which is situated in the foothills of the Salt Range hill system between the Indus River and the Punjab Plain. [1] [7] [8] It is primarily exported in bulk, and processed in other countries for the consumer market. [5]
Himalayan salt is a table salt. Analysis of a range of Khewra salt samples showed them to be between 96% and 99% sodium chloride, with trace presence of calcium, iron, zinc, chromium, magnesium, and sulfate, all at varying safe levels below 1%. [1] [9] [10] [11]
Some salt crystals from this region have an off-white to transparent color, while the trace minerals in some veins of salt give it a pink, reddish, or beet-red color. [12] [13]
Nutritionally, Himalayan salt is similar to common table salt. [11] [14] Although a study of pink salts commercially available in Australia showed Himalayan salt to contain higher levels of a range of elements, including calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, potassium, aluminum, barium, silicon, and sulfur, and reduced levels of sodium, compared to table salt, the authors concluded that "exceedingly high intake" (a level in excess of the recommended daily salt intake by almost 500%) would be required for the differences to be clinically significant, levels at which any potential nutritional benefit would be outweighed by the risks of elevated sodium consumption such an intake would entail. [15] One notable exception regards the essential mineral iodine. Commercial table salt in many countries is supplemented with iodine, and this has significantly reduced disorders of iodine deficiency. [16] Himalayan salt lacks these beneficial effects of iodine supplementation. [17] [18]
Himalayan salt is used to flavor food. Due mainly to marketing costs, pink Himalayan salt is up to 20 times more expensive than table salt or sea salt. [19] The impurities giving it its distinctive pink hue, as well as its unprocessed state and lack of anti-caking agents, have given rise to the unsupported belief that it is healthier than common table salt. [14] [18] [20] There is no scientific basis for such claimed health benefits. [17] [11] [20] [21] [22] In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration warned a manufacturer of dietary supplements, including one consisting of Himalayan salt, to discontinue marketing the products using unproven claims of health benefits. [23]
Slabs of salt are used as serving dishes, baking stones, and griddles, [24] and it is also used to make tequila shot glasses. [25] In such uses, small amounts of salt transfer to the food or drink and alter its flavor profile. [26]
It is also used to make "salt lamps" that radiate a pinkish or orangish hue, manufactured by placing a light source within the hollowed-out interior of a block of Himalayan salt. [27] Claims that their use results in the release of ions that benefit health have no scientific foundation. [14] [28] Similar scientifically unsupported claims underlie the use of Himalayan salt to line the walls of spas, along with its use for salt-inhalation spa treatments. [14] Salt lamps can be a danger to pets, who may suffer salt poisoning after licking them. [29]
Examples from the diverse range of products made from pink Himalayan rock salt include:
The halogens are a group in the periodic table consisting of six chemically related elements: fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), iodine (I), and the radioactive elements astatine (At) and tennessine (Ts), though some authors would exclude tennessine as its chemistry is unknown and is theoretically expected to be more like that of gallium. In the modern IUPAC nomenclature, this group is known as group 17.
Sea salt is salt that is produced by the evaporation of seawater. It is used as a seasoning in foods, cooking, cosmetics and for preserving food. It is also called bay salt, solar salt, or simply salt. Like mined rock salt, production of sea salt has been dated to prehistoric times.
In the context of nutrition, a mineral is a chemical element. Some "minerals" are essential for life, most are not. Minerals are one of the four groups of essential nutrients, the others of which are vitamins, essential fatty acids, and essential amino acids. The five major minerals in the human body are calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and magnesium. The remaining elements are called "trace elements". The generally accepted trace elements are iron, chlorine, cobalt, copper, zinc, manganese, molybdenum, iodine, and selenium; there is some evidence that there may be more.
Kala namak or black salt is a kiln-fired rock salt with a sulphurous, pungent smell used in the Indian subcontinent. It is also known as "Himalayan black salt", Sulemani namak, bit noon, bire noon, bit loona, bit lobon, kala loon, sanchal, kala meeth, guma loon, or pada loon, and is manufactured from the salts mined in the regions surrounding the Himalayas.
Halite, commonly known as rock salt, is a type of salt, the mineral (natural) form of sodium chloride (NaCl). Halite forms isometric crystals. The mineral is typically colorless or white, but may also be light blue, dark blue, purple, pink, red, orange, yellow or gray depending on inclusion of other materials, impurities, and structural or isotopic abnormalities in the crystals. It commonly occurs with other evaporite deposit minerals such as several of the sulfates, halides, and borates. The name halite is derived from the Ancient Greek word for "salt", ἅλς (háls).
Micronutrients are essential dietary elements required by organisms in varying quantities to regulate physiological functions of cells and organs. Micronutrients support the health of organisms throughout life.
Iodised salt is table salt mixed with a minute amount of various salts of the element iodine. The ingestion of iodine prevents iodine deficiency. Worldwide, iodine deficiency affects about two billion people and is the leading preventable cause of intellectual and developmental disabilities. Deficiency also causes thyroid gland problems, including endemic goitre. In many countries, iodine deficiency is a major public health problem that can be cheaply addressed by purposely adding small amounts of iodine to the sodium chloride salt.
In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as rock salt or halite. Salt is essential for life in general, and saltiness is one of the basic human tastes. Salt is one of the oldest and most ubiquitous food seasonings, and is known to uniformly improve the taste perception of food, including otherwise unpalatable food. Salting, brining, and pickling are also ancient and important methods of food preservation.
An iodate is the polyatomic anion with the formula IO−3. It is the most common form of iodine in nature, as it comprises the major iodine-containing ores. Iodate salts are often colorless. They are the salts of iodic acid.
The Salt Range is a mountain range in the north of Punjab province of Pakistan, deriving its name from its extensive deposits of rock salt. The range extends along the south of the Potohar Plateau and the north of the Jhelum River. The Salt Range contains the great mines of Khewra, Kalabagh and Warcha which yield vast supplies of salt. Coal of a medium quality is also found. The Salt Range starts from the Bakralla and Tilla Jogian ridges in the east and extends to the west of River Jhelum.
Polyhalite is an evaporite mineral, a hydrated sulfate of potassium, calcium and magnesium with formula: K2Ca2Mg(SO4)4·2H2O. Polyhalite crystallizes in the triclinic system, although crystals are very rare. The normal habit is massive to fibrous. It is typically colorless, white to gray, although it may be brick red due to iron oxide inclusions. It has a Mohs hardness of 3.5 and a specific gravity of 2.8. It is used as a fertilizer.
The Khewra Salt Mine, also known as Mayo Salt Mine, is the world's second largest salt mine, located in Khewra, Punjab, Pakistan. The mine is in the Salt Range of the Potohar plateau, which rises from the Indus plain of the Punjab.
Food fortification or enrichment is the process of adding micronutrients to food. It can be carried out by food manufacturers, or by governments as a public health policy which aims to reduce the number of people with dietary deficiencies within a population. The predominant diet within a region can lack particular nutrients due to the local soil or from inherent deficiencies within the staple foods; the addition of micronutrients to staples and condiments can prevent large-scale deficiency diseases in these cases.
Curing salt is used in meat processing to generate a pinkish shade and to extend shelf life. It is both a color agent and a means to facilitate food preservation as it prevents or slows spoilage by bacteria or fungus. Curing salts are generally a mixture of sodium chloride and sodium nitrite, and are used for pickling meats as part of the process to make sausage or cured meat such as ham, bacon, pastrami, corned beef, etc. Though it has been suggested that the reason for using nitrite-containing curing salt is to prevent botulism, a 2018 study by the British Meat Producers Association determined that legally permitted levels of nitrite have no effect on the growth of the Clostridium botulinum bacteria that causes botulism, in line with the UK's Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food opinion that nitrites are not required to prevent C. botulinum growth and extend shelf life..
Lucky Core Industries Limited, previously known as ICI Pakistan Limited, is a Pakistani chemical company which is based in Karachi, Pakistan. It manufactures polyester, pharmaceutical, agrochemical, soda ash and animal health products.
A salt substitute, also known as low-sodium salt, is a low-sodium alternative to edible salt marketed to reduce the risk of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease associated with a high intake of sodium chloride while maintaining a similar taste.
Mining is an important industry in Pakistan. Pakistan has deposits of several minerals including coal, copper, gold, chromite, mineral salt, bauxite and several other minerals. There are also a variety of precious and semi-precious minerals that are also mined. These include peridot, aquamarine, topaz, ruby, emerald, rare-earth minerals bastnaesite and xenotime, sphene, tourmaline, and many varieties and types of quartz.
The Pothohar Plateau, also known as Pothwar, is a plateau in Punjab, Pakistan, located between the Indus and Jhelum rivers.
Salted: A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes is a reference book and cookbook written by food writer Mark Bitterman. In May 2011 Salted won the James Beard Foundation Award for Reference and Scholarship Cookbook. It has also been nominated for the International Association of Culinary Professionals Cookbook Awards for the Food & Beverage Reference/Technical category and First Book: The Julia Child Award. It is available both in hardcover and on the Kindle.
The Kłodawa Salt Mine is the biggest operating salt mine in Poland. It is located in Kłodawa, Koło County, Greater Poland Voivodship.
As is often the case with nutritional controversies, pseudoscience slithers into the picture. In this case it is in the form of "natural" alternatives to table salt with insinuations of health benefits. Himalayan salt, which is composed of large grains of rock salt mined in Pakistan, is touted as a healthier version because it contains traces of potassium, silicon, phosphorus, vanadium, and iron. The amounts are enough to color the crystals, giving them a more "natural" appearance, but are nutritionally irrelevant. Some promoters make claims that are laughable. Himalayan salt, they say, contains stored sunlight, will remove phlegm from the lungs, clear sinus congestion, prevent varicose veins, stabilize irregular heartbeats, regulate blood pressure, and balance excess acidity in brain cells. One would have to have a deficiency in brain cells to believe such hokum. It doesn't even rise to the level of taking it with a grain of salt.
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