Celtic Sea Salt & Heart Disease

Your body needs salt, which is simply a mixture of two minerals: sodium and chloride. You only require about 200 mg of salt per day to stay healthy, according to Katherine Zeratsky of MayoClinic.com, and it can come from sea salt or table salt because they are almost identical. However, you risk heart problems if you consistently take in too much salt of any type.

Definition

Sea salt is a dietary salt product that comes from evaporating ocean water rather than mining for the product. Mined salt is more pure than sea salt because minerals wash out of salt deposits over time, and companies process it heavily before selling it. Table salt often contains iodine and anti-clumping additives, Zeratsky advises. Sea salt retains its minerals, which affect its taste and color, and it is more course than table salt because of the lack of processing. Celtic Sea Salt is a specific sea salt brand produced in a coastal region in France. The product line includes plain and organic seasoned varieties like smoked, celery and rosemary to add additional taste to foods.

Effects

Celtic Sea Salt, along with other sea salt brands and table salt, harms your body physically if you eat too much of it. Eating too much salt raises your blood pressure and increases your chance of having a stroke or heart attack, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. You raise your heart disease risk if you eat more than 1,500 mg daily of salt of any type and combination. Some people are particularly salt sensitive, so they face an even higher risk of heart disease because salt raises their blood pressure more radically.

Sources

Celtic Sea Salt is a gourmet product, so most people consume it knowingly by adding it to their food during cooking or eating. About 80 percent of the average American's salt intake comes from processed food items to which either table salt or sea salt has already been added, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. You may eat a modest amount of Celtic Sea Salt, but you still risk heart disease if you do not monitor your sodium chloride intake from other foods.

Considerations

Although previous studies show a link between high salt consumption and heart disease, an eight-year European study, published in the "Journal of the American Medical Association," showed that salt might lower heart disease risk in some people. By the end of the study, less than 1 percent of the study participants with the highest sodium levels had died of heart-related problems. Those with the lowest sodium levels had a 4 percent death rate from heart issues. The study included only people with no preexisting heart or blood pressure problems.