Question: Should I be iodized or non-iodized sea salt?
When buying sea salt, do I need to buy the iodized or non-iodized kind?
Answer:
For a full discussion on sea salt, check out my article, A Pillar of Salt. But for a specific answer to your question on iodized salt, the answer is to buy unrefined, minimally processed, non-iodized sea salt. A good quality sea salt like Celtic Sea Salt will actually contain more natural iodine per gram (approximately 150 mcg, 2/3 of your body’s daily requirement) than iodized table salt (approximately 50-80 mcg). For more on iodine and salt, check out Iodine: Getting it Right.
Reading people like Brownstein and other, they show substantial evidence that the 150mcg of idoine a day is incorrect. They liken it to saying that 40IU of D3 is correct. Brownstein shows numerous cases and some clinical evidence that 6grams to 50grams per day is what is required. Additionally, the iodine patch test referred to here seems to be low as well. I have seen other quotes of this test where no fading should occur for 8 hours and that something should be left after 24……comments?
I have read your newsletter A
I have read your newsletter A Pillar Of Salt. One topic I hear repeated over and over in the sports world today is "Hyponatremia". Hyponatremia is an electrolyte disturbance in which the sodium concentration in the serum is lower than normal. Apparently more and more runners suffer a bout of this, and the popular notion is that they drink too much water and not enough sports drinks (I wonder who sponsored that particular idea) Well, it is said that they do not supply enough salts and minerals during the sports events that are often as short as 10 to 21 km. So theoretically the runners drink so much water that they wash all the salt out of their blood. To me this sound somewhat strange, when it is known that about 90-95% of everybody are dehydrated to some extent AND that most people eat so many processed foods that the salt intake is way, way higher than recommended. Anyway, as far as I can tell the data in A pillar of salt about table-salt do not support the theory of hyponatremia. Dr. Richard Anderson holds that the reason why the body excretes salt and leaves it in cakes on clothing etc. is that the salt is of a type that harms the body, and that the body desperately tries to get rid of it. He also states that if one only takes in organic sodium (through plants) the body will hold on to it. Taken together with the fact that only about 30% eat vegetables and probably very little fruit and much table salt-containing food the majority should be saturated with "bad" salt, practically void of "good" salt, and dehydrated. Now would it be possible that people, who suffer hyponatremia during races due to drinking too much water, are simply deficient in "good" sodium?
Frank:
No, hyponatremia is
Frank:
No, hyponatremia is real. If exercising heavily on a hot day and also drinking a great deal of water, you can sweat out an extraordinary amount of sodium, and other electrolytes for that matter. Think back to the last time you licked your upper lip on a hot day. Pretty salty wasn't it? Now extrapolate that out to the sweat appearing constantly all over your body. That said, sugared sports drinks are not the only solution. Anything that replaces electrolytes, including sodium, will do the trick. For that matter, a small spoon of Himalayan salt to drinking water will do the trick. Unfortunately, marathoners usually don't have that choice — being dependent on whatever they are given at water stations along the course of the race.
Jon