This Comprehensive Guide evaluates and compares two types of popular slats; Cornish Sea Salt vs Celtic Salt. Here, we will look into scientific evidence of each salt, their benefits and how each affects chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, muscle pains and obesity. The ultimate goal is to confirm which salt is the healthiest option for each condition and more.
Let’s start by looking at salts in general…
What Is Salt?
‘Salt is the taste cop: it keeps the various types of food in check and prevents powerful flavours from tyrannizing the defenceless.’
This quote by Lucien Tendret perfectly highlights the significance of salt in flavour balancing. It emphasizes how salt functions as a “policeman/cop” to ensure harmony among the many taste ingredients in a dish.
Salt is a mineral that has been used for ages to enhance the flavour and preserve food. It is a crystalline material that is abundant in nature and is mostly constituted of sodium chloride (NaCl).
Salt is well-known for its adaptability and plays an important part in many facets of our life, ranging from culinary uses to industrial processes.
Sea salt, in specifically, is a form of salt obtained from ocean evaporation. It is frequently praised for its distinct flavour and rougher texture, which can provide a distinct flavour to meals.
‘The sun and the sea are the purest of parents for salt.’ This Pythagorean quotation emphasizes salt’s natural origins, attributing its formation to the sun and the sea, emphasizing its link to nature.
Now, let’s turn into Cornish Sea Salt.
What Is Cornish Sea Salt?
Cornish Sea Salt is an incredible salt made from minerals extracted from hidden waterways on Cornwall’s Lizard Peninsula in the United Kingdom.
Cornwall has been producing salt since the Iron Age, when parts of the Atlantic Ocean were caught in rock ponds, dried out by the sun, and then bubbled in pots over flares.
We should note there is a salt company trading as ‘Cornish Sea Salt Company Ltd’ too.
How Cornish Sea Salt Is Made?
The creation coordinated attempt begins with the saltwater, which is separated to remove contaminants and sand. The separated seawater is subsequently warmed and disseminated, traditionally using the sun’s light, in a salt compartment formation of shallow pools.
The salt substantial stones begin to frame as the water disperses. These large stones are meticulously aggregated in the most difficult way possible, ensuring that only the greatest grade of salt is collected.
Cornish Sea Salt is prized for its pure, natural flavour and crisp surface. It has a good balance of head minerals, such as potassium, magnesium, and calcium, which contribute to its undeniable flavour. Salt has long been used as an ingredient in cooking and baking, providing importance and a multi-layered quality to foods.
Aside from its culinary applications, Cornish Sea Salt is also known for its consistent and reasonable production methods. Cornish Sea Salt’s partnership brilliantly focuses on limiting its organic influence by utilizing benign biological system power sources and expanding trustworthy practices.
How Cornish Sea Salt Affects Health?
Cornish Sea Salt has an exceptional salty flavour, and you can use up to 30% less while cooking while still reaping the flavour-enhancing benefits.
Cornish sea salt is typically lower in sodium per gram than other salts, making it a two-time winner in the quest for a healthier lifestyle that prioritizes taste. With each squeeze, your handy tub will turn you into a seasoning expert, providing depth of flavour to your dishes and allowing the fixings to dazzle.
These essential minerals have numerous health advantages, including assisting with glucose control, decreasing anxiety, and ensuring that our hearts perform properly. It also aids in maintaining healthy skin and lowering intensity.
Cornish Sea Salt is an unprocessed, natural sea salt, which means it hasn’t been stripped of its natural mineral composition (like table salt is). Cornish Sea Salt is truly unique because it includes over 60 minerals that aren’t lost in the transit between our salt house and your kitchen. Calcium, magnesium, and potassium are the most stigmatizing of these minerals.
Some of the important elements present in Cornish Sea Salt are noted in the table below.:
Sodium | Sodium is essential for maintaining fluid balance in the body, supporting nerve and muscle function, and aiding in nutrient absorption. However, it’s important to consume sodium in moderation, as excessive intake can lead to high blood pressure. |
Magnesium |
Magnesium is crucial for many bodily functions, including nerve transmission, muscle contraction, and the formation of healthy bones and teeth. It also helps to reduce fatigue and supports a healthy immune system. |
Potassium |
Potassium aids in the regulation of circulatory strain and cardiac (heart) function. It also plays a crucial role in maintaining fluid balance and supporting nerve and muscle cell functioning. |
Calcium |
For strong bones and teeth, calcium is crucial. It also plays a role in nerve function, muscle contraction, and blood clotting. |
Iodine |
Iodine is essential for the production of thyroid hormones, which regulate metabolism and support growth and development. |
Zinc | Zinc is necessary for a healthy immune system, wound healing, and the breakdown of carbohydrates. It’s also necessary for the sensations of taste and smell. |
Iron |
Iron is a component of haemoglobin, which carries oxygen from our lungs to the rest of our bodies. It’s also necessary for growth, development, and normal cellular functioning. |
Copper |
Copper helps with the formation of red blood cells and keeps the immune system, blood vessels, nerves, and bones healthy. |
Remember that while these minerals are important, it is critical to use sea salt with caution as part of a healthy eating plan. Salt overconsumption can lead to health problems such as hypertension and coronary artery disease. You should discuss modified urging with clinical benefits or a nutritionist on a regular basis.
Now, it’s time to start exploring Celtic Salt.
What Is Celtic Salt?
Celtic sea salt, also known as Grey Salt or Sel Gris in French, is extracted from estuaries seawater, which is in the surrounding French town of Guérande. This is a type of French Salt.
When the tide comes in, seawater is permitted to settle in earth’s residual lakes, where the solidified impacts of wind and sun form a thick saline arrangement. The saline arrangement is then coordinated to a shallow salt compartment plunged into the nearby earth, where it comes to fruition via daylight-based dispersion to approach salt.
The earth from the residual and the salt compartment give Sel Gris its trademark dismal tone.
How Celtic Salt Is Made?
Grey salt and Fleur de Sel are collected by hand with wooden rakes by professional worker paludiers (salt authorities, salt rakers, or salt farmers) who clean the most prominent area of the dispersing seawater. This is a 1500-year-old method developed by their Celtic forefathers, giving the dull salt its other name of, Celtic Sea Salt.
For one year, new paludiers focus on gaining proficiency with the sluggish and definite turns of events and patient approaches for the old-fashioned claim to fame. Most are drawn to the calling by a love of nature, a desire to work outside, and a sense of tradition.
There are approximately 200 traditional paludiers in France nowadays, operating an area of 2,000 hectares of salt-overwhelms and transporting 10,000 tons of noteworthy sea salt each year.
Impact Of Celtic Salt On Health
Celtic Sea Salt is mostly recommended and known for its salty flavour. Aside from it, it also has numerous health benefits, some of which are below.
1. Repairs Skin Damage
Celtic sea salt is commonly used in soaks and washes for damaged or broken skin. It is also suggested as an exfoliator.
The salt functions as a disinfectant, while the trace necessary minerals soothe the wounded skin and reduce inflammation. Rashes, acne, and rosacea are all treated with salt washes. However, repeated treatments can be quite drying to sensitive skin; therefore, using a moisturizing cream soon after is advised.
2. Improves Cell Growth
Celtic sea salt is rich in 92 trace minerals. Twenty-four of the minerals are thought to be absolutely necessary for many basic biological functions.
Deficiencies can cause symptoms such as muscle spasms, nervous system dysfunction, and even brain damage.
Sea salt is also better at allowing fluid to circulate freely from the bloodstream and throughout the body. Regular table salt can cause fluid build-up around joints, as well as edema (swelling caused by fluid in your body’s tissues) and kidney problems.
3. Mucus Reduction
Celtic sea salt is a natural dehydrator that can help reduce nasal and sinus puffiness as well as mucus build-up in the lungs. It is also used to treat joint fluid build-up and water retention.
4. Joint Pain Relief
Researchers have discovered that soaking in a high-salt bath with a salinity of 25% or more helps alleviate inflammation around swollen joints caused by osteoarthritis.
Low-salt solutions may worsen areas of inflammation, whereas high salt content dehydrates the cells surrounding the swollen area, reducing inflammation.
The Role Of Iodine
Iodine is a substance that your body does not manufacture naturally, but it is necessary for hormone balance. Iodine is used by the thyroid gland in the manufacture of hormones.
A goitre on the thyroid is a common symptom of iodine insufficiency.
Dr. Guy E. Abraham discovered that vitamin C can more efficiently transport iodine in the body, making Celtic sea salt an effective way to avoid iodine deficits. These deficiencies can also cause infertility, and some studies suggest that they are a risk factor for some forms of cancer.
While many salts contain iodine (at least as a secondary addition), Celtic sea salt is a natural supply of this important mineral.
How These Salts Effect Common Health Problems?
Although Cornish and Celtic sea salts have similar mineral content and give similar health advantages, their usefulness in addressing prevalent health conditions such as diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure is limited.
Here’s a quick rundown:
1. Diabetes
Celtic sea salt and Cornish sea salt are both natural sea salts with slightly varying mineral compositions due to their geographical differences. When it comes to diabetes management, however, the difference between the two salts is unlikely to have a major impact on blood sugar levels.
Monitoring and regulating carbohydrate intake, particularly the consumption of refined sugars and processed carbs, is crucial to managing diabetes.
A balanced diet that includes a variety of nutrient-rich foods such as whole grains, lean meats, fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats is essential.
If you want a salt with more minerals and a potentially more complex flavour profile, you can go with Celtic sea salt or Cornish sea salt, depending on your preferences. However, it is important to note that the fundamental priority for diabetes treatment should be a well-rounded diet with an optimal macronutrient balance.
It is always preferable to seek personalized guidance on managing diabetes and making dietary choices from a healthcare professional or a qualified dietitian.
2. High Blood Pressure
When it comes to high blood pressure, both Celtic sea salt and Cornish sea salt can be beneficial because they contain less sodium than normal table salt.
Sodium is a mineral when consumed in excess, can contribute to high blood pressure in some people.
Celtic sea salt has undergone minimum processing and maintains trace minerals such as magnesium, potassium, and calcium. These minerals are good for your general health and may help keep your blood pressure in check. The levels of these minerals in Celtic sea salt, however, are quite low and unlikely to have a substantial effect on blood pressure on their own.
Cornish sea salt, like Celtic sea salt, is also not much processed and includes trace minerals. While the exact mineral makeup varies, Cornish sea salt maintains minerals such as magnesium, potassium, and calcium. These minerals can help with a variety of body functions but have no direct or significant influence on blood pressure.
Individuals with high blood pressure can benefit from both Celtic sea salt and Cornish sea salt as part of a well-balanced diet.
It is important to note, however, that the most effective approach to managing high blood pressure is an overall healthy lifestyle that includes reducing sodium intake from all sources, eating a balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins, exercising regularly, and receiving appropriate medical care.
3. Obesity
When it comes to obesity, the difference between Celtic and Cornish sea salt is unlikely to make a substantial difference in weight control. Both salts are natural sea salts with comparable nutritional characteristics.
Here’s some information to think about:
- Trace minerals such as magnesium, potassium, and calcium can be found in Celtic and Cornish sea salt. While these minerals are good for your overall health, they don’t help you lose or gain weight.
- An overall caloric balance, portion control, regular physical exercise, and a balanced diet are the main variables for managing weight and obesity. This involves eating a mix of nutrient-dense meals, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, and healthy fats, while keeping an eye on overall caloric intake.
- Celtic sea salt and Cornish sea salt both have lower sodium levels than conventional table salt. Excess sodium consumption can contribute to fluid retention and potentially affect weight in some people.
However, the sodium content differential between these sea salts is usually negligible, and the key to weight management is limiting overall sodium intake from all sources, including processed and packaged meals.
It’s crucial to remember that choosing salt, whether Celtic sea salt or Cornish sea salt, is only a minor part of an all-encompassing weight-management strategy.
Adopting a healthy lifestyle that includes a balanced diet, regular exercise, enough sleep, stress management, and appropriate medical treatment should be the main goal.
Other Salt Types And Alternatives
Here is the list of alternatives to Cornish Sea Salts and Celtic Salts.
- Bamboo Salt
- Chicken Salt
- Chinen Salt
- Dead Sea Salt
- Epsom Salt
- French Grey Sea Salt
- Garlic Salt
- Hawaiian Salt
- Himalayan Salt
- Kosher Salt
- Red Salt
- Smoked Salt
Conclusion
The overall salt consumption is the most important aspect to consider in terms of health. Excess salt consumption can result in health problems such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular disorders, and fluid retention. As a result, it is advised to limit overall salt consumption, regardless of type.
When deciding between Cornish Sea Salt and Celtic Sea Salt, it’s crucial to evaluate the salt’s quality, purity, and natural manufacturing methods rather than just one brand. Look for salts that are unrefined, additive-free, and manufactured in a sustainable manner.
Finally, the healthiest option is determined by an individual’s dietary needs, preferences, and any special health conditions. It is best to contact a healthcare practitioner or a nutritionist who can give personalized advice depending on your specific situation.
Hi, this is a very interesting article. Salt is actually pretty interesting if you think about it. It is used in so many different foods today. Probably at least 80 percent of foods use salt. Not only is salty foods delicious but it’s also used for so many other things like preservation of foods ect.
I was wondering what you would recommend for seniors in terms of which salt is better for high blood pressure and reducing cholesterol?
Hello Jake,
Thank you for your thoughtful comment and intriguing question! You’re absolutely right; salt plays a fascinating role in the culinary world and beyond.
When it comes to seniors and their concerns about high blood pressure and cholesterol, choosing the right salt can make a difference.
Both Cornish Sea Salt and Celtic Salt are considered healthier options compared to highly processed table salt due to their natural mineral content and lower sodium chloride levels. However, it’s essential to use any type of salt in moderation.
Here are some recommendations:
Moderation: Regardless of the type of salt, seniors should aim to limit their overall salt intake. High salt consumption can contribute to high blood pressure, which can be more common in older adults.Mineral-Rich Salts: Both Cornish Sea Salt and Celtic Salt contain trace minerals that can offer some health benefits. These minerals may help support overall health, but their impact on blood pressure and cholesterol is relatively small (compared to Table Salt). Still, they can be a flavorful and nutritious addition to meals.Consult a Healthcare Professional: For seniors with specific concerns about high blood pressure and cholesterol, it’s crucial to consult with a healthcare professional. They can provide personalized dietary recommendations and may suggest salt alternatives or reduced-sodium options.Experiment with Flavors: Natural salts like Cornish Sea Salt and Celtic Salt can enhance the flavors of dishes without needing as much salt. Seniors can experiment with different seasonings, herbs, and spices to reduce their salt usage while still enjoying tasty meals.
Ultimately, the key is balance and individualized guidance. Seniors should work closely with their healthcare providers to create a dietary plan that aligns with their health goals, including managing high blood pressure and cholesterol.
Thank you for your engaging question, and if you have any more inquiries or need further information, please feel free to ask. Your health and well-being are important, and we’re here to provide knowledgeable insights to support you.
Have a good day.