Sea Salt vs. Table Salt: Benefits, Types, Uses & Side Effects

Dr. Josh Axe · Free quiz

Cellular Health Quiz

Loading question one…

Sea salt is the salt left behind when seawater evaporates, and an unrefined one keeps a little of the sea's other minerals.12 I'm not against salt, and I recommend sprinkling a quality sea salt on real food regularly, since most of the sodium in a modern diet is already in packaged and restaurant food by the time it reaches your plate.39

Your body can't make salt and can't run without it, because sodium keeps water in your blood and around your cells and carries the electrical signals that fire your nerves and muscles, your heart muscle included, and your stomach builds its acid from chloride.1156 The trouble with salt in the modern diet is where it hides: in packaged and restaurant meals, usually beside too little potassium from vegetables and fruit.1213 When you season your own food with an unrefined salt and fill your plate with produce, your kidneys can do the balancing they were designed to do.

Celtic and gray sea salt, fleur de sel, flaky salt and Dead Sea salt all come from salt water, and the differences between them, and between sea salt and the table salt in most shakers, come down to how the salt is harvested and what's added along the way.

Did you know?

• Salt has been made in the marshes of Guérande, on France's Atlantic coast, for about 2,700 years, and the gray salt there is still raked by hand by the paludier, the salt farmer.14

• More than 100 herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine are processed with salt, which is meant to steer them toward the kidneys.15

• Most of the world's salt is made from seawater by evaporation, and only about one-sixth is mined from underground deposits.1

Advertisement

What is sea salt?

Most of the world's salt starts in the sea. Salt makers let seawater into a chain of shallow ponds and leave the sun and wind to do the work, and as the water evaporates, sodium chloride crystallizes out along with smaller amounts of the sea's other minerals.1 Salt lakes and underground brines are worked the same way, and the rest of the world's salt is mined as rock salt from the beds of seas that dried up long ago.1 Refined salts, whether they began in the sea or in a mine, are washed and dried down to nearly pure sodium chloride, and anticaking agents may be added so they pour freely.121

On the Atlantic coast of France, the salt marshes of Guérande show the old method still at work. Seawater flows through some 7,000 clay-bottomed ponds, and from June to September the paludier rakes the gray salt by hand, much as salt makers have done on that coast for centuries.14 Salt gathered at the sea's edge is old enough to appear in Scripture. In Ezekiel's vision, a river flowing out from the temple heals the waters of the sea, yet the marshes along its shore are left as they are and kept for salt: "But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt" (Ezekiel 47:11).22

Sea salt vs. table salt: what's the difference?

Table salt is so thoroughly refined that USDA's analysis lists 38,800 mg of sodium in every 100 grams, which makes it almost pure sodium chloride, with only traces of calcium, magnesium and potassium left.21 To keep it pouring in damp weather, manufacturers can add anticaking agents, and the international food standard for salt permits several of them, among them calcium silicate, silicon dioxide and sodium aluminosilicate, along with tiny amounts of ferrocyanides.1 Iodized salt adds iodine on top, a public-health measure that almost 90% of the world's people now use.1

Unrefined sea salt skips that washing, so it holds on to a little of what the sea left in it.12 That's why I'd rather you cook with a whole, unrefined salt than with refined table salt.2

The main difference between rock salt and sea salt is where they come from: rock salt is mined from seas that dried up long ago, and sea salt comes from the water lapping at the shore today.1 Pink Himalayan salt is a rock salt, and our guide to pink Himalayan salt covers where it's mined and what's in it. Kosher salt is handy for seasoning by hand because its coarse flakes are easy to pinch, and our guide to what kosher means explains where the name comes from.

Types of sea salt

Sea salts differ in where the water came from, how slowly it dried and how the crystals were gathered, and that's why a jar of fleur de sel and a bag of coarse gray salt look and taste so different.

Celtic and gray sea salt

Celtic sea salt is the damp, coarse gray salt that salt farmers rake by hand from the clay-lined marshes of Brittany, on France's Atlantic coast, and its benefits are those of an unrefined sea salt: sodium and chloride, with a little more magnesium than refined salt carries.1412 In a comparison of six salts reported in a 2025 review, a French Atlantic sea salt came out high or highest in magnesium, potassium and several other minerals.1 In The Biblio Diet, Jordan Rubin and I call whole Celtic sea salt the salt we use and recommend,2 and you'll also see it sold as gray sea salt or sel gris, French for gray salt.14 Our full guide to Celtic sea salt covers how it's made and how to cook with it.

Fleur de sel and flaky sea salt

Fleur de sel, French for "flower of salt," is the delicate top layer of crystals that forms on those same ponds and is gathered by hand.14 Flaky sea salt forms thin, flat crystals that crunch when you bite them. Both are finishing salts, which means you scatter them over a dish just before it reaches the table, where their texture and quick burst of flavor do the most.

Coarse, smoked and Mediterranean sea salts

Coarse sea salt has large crystals made for grinders, brines and soups, smoked sea salt is dried over a wood fire for a deeper flavor, and Mediterranean sea salts come from the coasts of southern Europe. Hawaiian alaea salt is a sea salt colored with red clay, and some sea salts are sold iodized, which the nutrition section below explains.

Sea salt nutrition: what minerals are in it?

Weight for weight, sea salt carries about the same sodium as table salt, and that sodium, with its partner chloride, is what your body needs most from any salt.2 USDA hasn't analyzed unrefined sea salt, so its closest measured record is table salt, where a quarter teaspoon (1.5 grams) holds 582 mg of sodium and a full teaspoon holds 2,328 mg.21

What unrefined sea salt adds is a little of the sea's other minerals. A review of salt composition reported that about 5 grams a day of a French Atlantic sea salt, roughly a teaspoon, could supply about 10% of the magnesium you need in a day and about 2% of your iron.1 Those amounts are small, so the rest of your minerals come from the foods built to carry them: leafy greens and other vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds and bone broth.

Iodine is where your choice of salt changes the numbers most. A quarter teaspoon of non-iodized sea salt holds about 0.02 mcg of iodine, against 70.0 mcg in iodized sea salt and 78.2 mcg in iodized table salt.24 I want your iodine coming from food, from sea vegetables, wild fish and eggs, and our list of iodine-rich foods has many more.25 When fish, sea vegetables, dairy and eggs are rare in a diet, iodized salt is the dependable fallback.24

How sea salt works in your body

Your body was made to hold its salt and water in a steady balance, and it does that minute by minute without asking you to count milligrams. A pinch of sea salt supplies the raw materials, your kidneys decide how much to keep, and the potassium on your plate tells them when to let the extra go.

Sea salt benefits: what it can do for you

Is sea salt better than table salt for blood pressure?

Over the years I have sat with thousands of people told the same thing: your pressure is up, the cause is unknown, here is a prescription, and you will likely take it forever.9 The High Blood Pressure Protocol starts by looking for what's driving the pressure, such as high insulin or a shortage of the minerals that relax your vessels, and on the salt question, that means looking at where your sodium comes from.9 When researchers tracked everything 450 adults in three U.S. regions ate, using four record-assisted 24-hour diet recalls each and duplicate samples of the salt they added at home, 70.9% of their sodium had been added to food outside the home, in packaged and restaurant food. Another 14.2% occurred naturally in food, and only 5.6% came from salt added in home cooking and 4.9% from the shaker at the table.12

That's why cooking more of your own food does more for your sodium than swapping one shaker for another.12 Changing salts on its own made little difference in that pink-salt trial, where the women ended with systolic readings of 117 and 119 mm Hg, a difference small enough to be chance.35 Sea salt did look gentler in an animal study: salt-sensitive rats fed natural sea salt for 15 weeks ended with lower blood pressure than rats fed the same weight of refined salt, about 174 against 199 mm Hg systolic on the higher-salt diet, and with healthier kidneys, though by weight that sea salt held less sodium chloride, 85.7% against 99.9%.36

Cutting sodium does lower blood pressure, and how much depends on where you start. In that Cochrane review, cutting sodium sharply lowered systolic pressure by 1.14 points across 95 trials of white participants with normal blood pressure and by 5.71 points across 88 trials of those with high blood pressure.16 The High Blood Pressure Protocol's Remineralize step puts the balance simply: cook at home so you control the salt, don't salt-load, don't fear whole foods, and aim for 4,000 to 4,700 mg of potassium a day from food.9

Potassium is the other half of the balance, and in my protocol the ratio of potassium to sodium moves pressure more than sodium does, because potassium is what prompts your kidneys to release the surplus.913 I'm not saying to eat as much salt as you can, but sprinkling a good-quality sea salt on your food, especially alongside fruits high in potassium, creates a healthy exchange in your body that's good for your heart.3 Season with sea salt at home, cut the packaged sodium first, fill your plate with potassium-rich foods, and let your own blood pressure readings guide how much salt you use.

Is sea salt the healthiest salt to use?

About 12 or 13 years ago I learned firsthand what going without salt feels like, when I did a 21-day Daniel Fast because I wanted to honor God with my body and follow the prophet Daniel's example, and for those three weeks I ate only vegetables, fruits and nuts, with no salt at all. I felt weak and a little moody, and looking back, I wouldn't do it with no salt. Once I brought a quality salt back, mostly Celtic sea salt, my energy and hydration improved dramatically.28

I think of sea salt the way the Bible talks about honey: use some, just not too much.28 Choose an unrefined salt, sprinkle it on food you cooked yourself, and let your meals, rather than packages, decide how much sodium you get. If you cook with pink salt or Celtic salt instead, you're making the same good choice, since each of them is a whole salt with nothing added.3

How much sea salt should you use a day?

Use a little every day, sprinkled on your meals, add a pinch to a glass of water, and let packaged food supply as little of your sodium as possible.29 For reference, the National Academies' adequate intake for adults is 1,500 mg of sodium a day, and they advise cutting back when intake climbs above 2,300 mg, which is about a teaspoon of fine salt.3721 Our guide to how much sodium per day walks through those numbers.

Going very low isn't the goal either. In a large observational study that followed about 100,000 people in 17 countries for nearly four years, people whose morning urine pointed to less than 3 grams of sodium a day had 27% higher odds of death or a major heart event than those at 4 to 6 grams, and people at 7 grams or more had 15% higher odds; as an observational study, it shows a link rather than proof of cause.38 If you sweat heavily from training or heat, you'll need more, and the recipes below include a drink built for exactly that.28

How to use sea salt

You can put sea salt to work in your kitchen, your water glass, a gargle or nasal rinse and your bath, and each use takes only a minute.

In your kitchen

Anywhere a recipe calls for table salt, an unrefined sea salt can take its place. Coarse sea salt dissolves more slowly than table salt, so it works well in soups and stews and as a finishing salt on fish, meat and vegetables, where it adds a more complex flavor.2 When a recipe needs the salt to dissolve completely, as in baking, use a fine grind or grind the coarse salt yourself, and because sea salt tastes a little different from table salt, start with less and taste as you go.2 If you're avoiding soy, coconut aminos, made from coconut sap and sea salt, make a good stand-in for soy sauce.

In your water

My method is to add a pinch of unrefined sea salt to each glass of water, preferably at room temperature, or about ¼ teaspoon to every quart (four glasses), and sip it through the day rather than gulping it down.2 Start with a glass first thing in the morning, and if the water tastes too salty, use a little less salt next time.2

Salt-water gargle and nasal rinse

For a sore throat, dissolve sea salt in a glass of warm water and gargle. In the cold trial, people chose the strongest solution they found comfortable, and most made a 3% salt solution at home, which works out to about 30 grams of salt per liter of water, roughly 5 teaspoons of fine salt, and used it to rinse their nose and gargle a median of three times a day.821 For any rinse that goes into your nose, use distilled, sterile or previously boiled water, and if you boil tap water, boil it for 3 to 5 minutes and let it cool to lukewarm first.39 A neti pot makes the rinse easy, and our guide to sore throat remedies pairs well with the gargle.

In your bath and on your skin

For a soak, dissolve coarse sea salt or Dead Sea salt in a warm bath and stay in for about 20 minutes, the length of the baths in the psoriasis trial.17 Epsom salt, which is magnesium sulfate rather than sodium chloride, is the other classic bath salt, and our homemade healing bath salts and homemade body scrub recipes make easy starting points. Mixed with water, sea salt also makes a sea salt spray that gives your hair a tousled, beachy texture.

Time by the ocean is also part of my advice to patients who are chronically ill.

Sea salt recipes

Salt goes into nearly every savory dish you make, and these recipes let sea salt do more than season.

Homemade electrolyte drink

I like to make my own electrolyte drink at home, and all it takes is water, lemon, raw local honey and a little gray sea salt.28

The same idea works with watermelon juice and about ⅛ teaspoon of sea salt, or with coconut water and a little sea salt.28 Use raw honey from a local source if you can find it, and adjust the salt to your taste.

A race-day honey and sea salt mix

If you sweat a lot, as endurance athletes do, getting the right type of sodium every day is crucial, and sea salt and Himalayan salt are some of the best forms of it.34 When I used to race triathlons, I made my own energy pack by stirring a little salt into raw local honey, and that bit of sea salt and honey was a great natural energy booster during a workout.34 Adjust the amounts to your taste and to how long you'll be out.

Fermented vegetables: sauerkraut and dill pickles

Salt and time turn shredded cabbage into sauerkraut, a salt-fermented food, and our sauerkraut recipe walks you through salting and packing the cabbage. For cucumbers, our guide to how to make dill pickles shows you the brine.

Everyday meals: quiche and chicken

The crustless spinach quiche bakes eggs and spinach with cheese, and goat or sheep cheese suits it well; a pinch of sea salt is all the seasoning it needs. For weeknights, our collection of keto chicken recipes gives you 25 quick ideas to finish with a sprinkle of sea salt.

Sea salt side effects and who should be careful

Used the way this page describes, sea salt sits well with most people, though a few health conditions change the picture. If you have heart failure, kidney disease or liver disease with fluid buildup, or your doctor has set a sodium limit for your blood pressure, keep your salt, and with kidney disease your potassium too, where your doctor sets it. Spend that allowance on real food you season yourself, since packaged food is where most sodium hides.12 People with thyroid disease can be sensitive to large amounts of iodine, so if that's you, get your iodine from food in ordinary amounts rather than from high-dose sources.4225

Because it's made from seawater, sea salt does carry microplastics. Across 28 sea salts from 16 countries, counts mostly ran from 0 to 1,674 particles per kilogram, with one sample far higher, and salts sold in the U.S., nearly all of them sea salts, averaged about 212 particles of human-made debris.1843 At that average, a quarter teaspoon a day works out to roughly 116 particles a year, against the 39,000 to 52,000 a year that researchers estimated Americans take in from the foods they could measure, and the 90,000 more that drinking only bottled water may add.44 Your bigger sources are water and plastic, so get a good filter for your drinking water, such as reverse osmosis or a solid carbon block, and switch from plastic bottles to glass or stainless steel.45

Buy unrefined sea salt from a seller that tests for heavy metals, since in 24 unrefined sea and rock salts sold in Greece, lead ran higher than seawater alone would explain.46 And keep Dead Sea salt in the bath: it's sold for soaking rather than seasoning, and a published case of bromide poisoning came from eating it.23

The bottom line

Sea salt: frequently asked questions

References

1. Chudy S, Makowska A, Kowalski R. Sodium Chloride in Food. Foods. 2025;14(15):2741. doi:10.3390/foods14152741. PMID:40807678
2. Axe J, Rubin J. The Biblio Diet. Hachette Book Group; 2025. ISBN 9781546008439. Salt chapter ("Please Pass the Salt"): the salt "we use and recommend, whole Celtic sea salt"; the sodium content of different salts is similar and the difference lies in trace minerals and additives; unrefined sea salt "contains additional minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium along with dozens of trace minerals with zero additives"; "Salt Your Water": a pinch of Celtic sea salt in each glass of water or 1/4 teaspoon per quart; cooking with coarse sea salt in soups and stews, as a finishing salt, and fine-ground for baking.
3. Axe J. The Truth About LDL & Heart Disease. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2026. Sprinkling a good-quality sea salt on your food, especially with fruits high in potassium, at 36:50 to 37:11; the low-salt trial and "it's not ideal in most cases to go low salt," at 37:13 to 37:37; sprinkle Celtic, Himalayan or quality sea salt on your food on a regular basis, at 37:37 to 37:47. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpzqVv_b4OU&t=2210s
4. Maughan RJ, Watson P, Cordery PAA, Walsh NP, Oliver SJ, Dolci A, et al. Sucrose and Sodium but not Caffeine Content Influence the Retention of Beverages in Humans Under Euhydrated Conditions. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2019;29(1):51-60. doi:10.1123/ijsnem.2018-0047. PMID:29893590
5. Grider MH, Jessu R, Kabir R. Physiology, Action Potential. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2023. PMID:30844170
6. Varela-Chinchilla CD, Segura N. Histology, Parietal Cells. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2023. PMID:31613538
7. Maughan RJ, Watson P, Cordery PA, Walsh NP, Oliver SJ, Dolci A, et al. A randomized trial to assess the potential of different beverages to affect hydration status: development of a beverage hydration index. Am J Clin Nutr. 2016;103(3):717-23. doi:10.3945/ajcn.115.114769. PMID:26702122
8. Ramalingam S, Graham C, Dove J, Morrice L, Sheikh A. A pilot, open labelled, randomised controlled trial of hypertonic saline nasal irrigation and gargling for the common cold. Sci Rep. 2019;9(1):1015. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-37703-3. PMID:30705369
9. Axe J. The High Blood Pressure Protocol. DrAxe.com. 2026. p. 3 (letter from Dr. Axe), p. 11 (Step 2, Remineralize: cook at home so you control the salt; do not salt-load, but do not fear whole foods either; 4,000-4,700 mg potassium a day from food), p. 22 (troubleshooting and FAQ: "About 70% of dietary sodium comes from packaged and restaurant food, not the shaker"; the sodium-to-potassium ratio).
10. Proksch E, Nissen HP, Bremgartner M, Urquhart C. Bathing in a magnesium-rich Dead Sea salt solution improves skin barrier function, enhances skin hydration, and reduces inflammation in atopic dry skin. Int J Dermatol. 2005;44(2):151-7. doi:10.1111/j.1365-4632.2005.02079.x. PMID:15689218
11. Shrimanker I, Bhattarai S. Electrolytes. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2023. PMID:31082167
12. Harnack LJ, Cogswell ME, Shikany JM, Gardner CD, Gillespie C, Loria CM, et al. Sources of Sodium in US Adults From 3 Geographic Regions. Circulation. 2017;135(19):1775-1783. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.116.024446. PMID:28483828
13. McDonough AA, Veiras LC, Guevara CA, Ralph DL. Cardiovascular benefits associated with higher dietary K(+) vs. lower dietary Na(+): evidence from population and mechanistic studies. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2017;312(4):E348-E356. doi:10.1152/ajpendo.00453.2016. PMID:28174181
14. Taste France Magazine. Salt from Guérande salt marshes: the taste of the sea. Taste France (French agri-food promotion), undated (accessed November 4, 2026). Clay soil, 7,000 crystallization ponds, gray salt raked by the paludier, harvest June to September, PGI since 2012.
15. Hou A, Lv J, Zhang S, Zhang J, Yang L, Jiang H, et al. Salt processing: A unique and classic technology for Chinese medicine processing. Front Pharmacol. 2023;14:1116047. doi:10.3389/fphar.2023.1116047. PMID:36794272
16. Graudal NA, Hubeck-Graudal T, Jurgens G. Effects of low sodium diet versus high sodium diet on blood pressure, renin, aldosterone, catecholamines, cholesterol, and triglyceride. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020;12(12):CD004022. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD004022.pub5. PMID:33314019
17. Halevy S, Giryes H, Friger M, Sukenik S. Dead sea bath salt for the treatment of psoriasis vulgaris: a double-blind controlled study. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 1997;9(3):237-242. doi:10.1111/j.1468-3083.1997.tb00509.x
18. Kim JS, Lee HJ, Kim SK, Kim HJ. Global Pattern of Microplastics (MPs) in Commercial Food-Grade Salts: Sea Salt as an Indicator of Seawater MP Pollution. Environ Sci Technol. 2018;52(21):12819-12828. doi:10.1021/acs.est.8b04180. PMID:30285421
19. Axe J. The Candida Cleanse Protocol: The 30-Day Healing Protocol. DrAxe.com. 2026. p. 17 (Phase 2, Open, days 7 to 21): "Kidneys — half your body weight in ounces of filtered water, pinch of sea salt"; meal plan, daily drinks: "Water — half your body weight in ounces, filtered, pinch of sea salt".
20. Axe J. Perimenopause & Menopause: The 90-Day Healing Protocol. DrAxe.com. 2026. p. 21 (7-day meal plan, daily drinks: "Water — half your body weight in ounces, filtered, pinch of sea salt").
21. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central: Salt, table (SR Legacy). FDC ID 173468. Sodium 38,800 mg, calcium 24 mg, magnesium 1 mg, potassium 8 mg per 100 g; 1 tsp = 6 g.
22. The Holy Bible, King James Version. Ezekiel 47:11.
23. Taylor BR, Sosa R, Stone WJ. Bromide toxicity from consumption of dead sea salt. Am J Med. 2010;123(3):e11-2. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2009.08.020. PMID:20193810
24. Heydorn K, Wambogo E, Spungen JH, Ershow AG, Gahche JJ, Haggans C, et al. USDA, FDA, and ODS-NIH Database for the Iodine Content of Common Foods, Release 4.0. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Methods and Application of Food Composition Laboratory; October 2024. Sea salt, non-iodized, 1/4 tsp: 0.02 mcg; iodized table salt 78.2 mcg; iodized sea salt 70.0 mcg.
25. Axe J. The Hypothyroidism Protocol. DrAxe.com. 2026. p. 13 (Step 3, Nourish: "Get iodine from food — sea vegetables, wild fish, eggs. Enough, not mega; test if antibodies are high.").
26. Axe J. Acid Reflux & GERD Protocol. DrAxe.com. 2026. Section 10, "Why it's where the acid goes, not how much"; section 11, what reflux and acid blockers deplete.
27. Garg R, Williams GH, Hurwitz S, Brown NJ, Hopkins PN, Adler GK. Low-salt diet increases insulin resistance in healthy subjects. Metabolism. 2011;60(7):965-8. doi:10.1016/j.metabol.2010.09.005. PMID:21036373
28. Axe J. How to Hydrate Your Brain, Boost Energy & End Brain Fog. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. August 18, 2025. His 21-day Daniel Fast without salt, 4:30 to 6:40; patients and their drinks, and electrolytes from fruits, vegetables, bone broth and a high-quality salt, 8:16 to 9:24; water without electrolytes as the number one reason for chronic dehydration, 9:57; honey and sea salt, "just not too much," 28:09; making your own electrolyte drink at home, 35:43 to 36:50 (YouTube times). YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nmGynV_jjQ
29. Axe J. Heal Your Cells: The Mitochondrial Longevity Protocol. DrAxe.com. 2026. Phase 2 (Charge), supplement focus: electrolytes on training and sauna days.
30. Štanfel D, Kalogjera L, Ryazantsev SV, Hlača K, Radtsig EY, Teimuraz R, et al. The Role of Seawater and Saline Solutions in Treatment of Upper Respiratory Conditions. Mar Drugs. 2022;20(5):330. doi:10.3390/md20050330. PMID:35621981
31. Slapak I, Skoupá J, Strnad P, Horník P. Efficacy of isotonic nasal wash (seawater) in the treatment and prevention of rhinitis in children. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2008;134(1):67-74. doi:10.1001/archoto.2007.19. PMID:18209140
32. Jiang M, Chen J, Ding Y, Gan C, Hou Y, Lei J, et al. Efficacy and Safety of Sea Salt-Derived Physiological Saline Nasal Spray as Add-On Therapy in Patients with Acute Upper Respiratory Infection: A Multicenter Retrospective Cohort Study. Med Sci Monit. 2021;27:e929714. doi:10.12659/MSM.929714. PMID:33974619
33. Axe J. Ancient Remedies. Little, Brown Spark; 2021. The water element and the salty flavor, in moderation (chapter "The Wisdom of Ancient Healing", running head p. 78).
34. Axe J. Table Salt vs. Himalayan Salt: Which Is Better? The Dr. Axe Show. 2017. In Chinese medicine salt drives things down, supports the kidneys and helps you excrete through the urinary tract, at 8:33; chronically ill patients sent to spend time by the ocean, walking the beach and practicing deep breathing, at 9:06; endurance athletes and the right type of sodium, with Himalayan salt and sea salt among the best forms, at 13:10; his triathlon energy pack of raw local honey and a little salt, at 13:30. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul0q0_PTMvs&t=513s
35. Loyola IP, Sousa MF, Jardim TV, Mendes MM, Barroso WKS, Sousa ALL, et al. Comparison between the Effects of Hymalaian Salt and Common Salt Intake on Urinary Sodium and Blood Pressure in Hypertensive Individuals [Comparação entre os Efeitos da Ingestão de Sal do Himalaia e de Sal Comum sobre os Valores de Sódio Urinário e Pressão Arterial em Indivíduos Hipertensos]. Arq Bras Cardiol. 2022;118(5):875-882. doi:10.36660/abc.20210069. PMID:35137791
36. Lee BH, Yang AR, Kim MY, McCurdy S, Boisvert WA. Natural sea salt consumption confers protection against hypertension and kidney damage in Dahl salt-sensitive rats. Food Nutr Res. 2017;61(1):1264713. doi:10.1080/16546628.2017.1264713. PMID:28325999
37. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Health and Medicine Division; Food and Nutrition Board; Committee to Review the Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium. Oria M, Harrison M, Stallings VA, editors. Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2019. Summary, Table S-2 (sodium adequate intake 1,500 mg/day for adults; chronic disease risk reduction intake: reduce intakes if above 2,300 mg/day, 14 years and older). doi:10.17226/25353
38. O'Donnell M, Mente A, Rangarajan S, McQueen MJ, Wang X, Liu L, et al. Urinary sodium and potassium excretion, mortality, and cardiovascular events. N Engl J Med. 2014;371(7):612-23. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1311889. PMID:25119607
39. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Rinsing Your Sinuses With Neti Pots: Is It Safe? Consumer Update. "Rinse only with distilled, sterile or previously boiled water"; boiled tap water: boiled 3 to 5 minutes, cooled to lukewarm, used within 24 hours. Accessed November 4, 2026.
40. U.S. National Library of Medicine, DailyMed. Lithium carbonate tablet, label (Highlights, 5.3 Hyponatremia; Medication Guide: "Do not change the amount of salt in your diet. Changing the amount of salt in your diet could change the amount of Lithium or Lithium Carbonate in your blood."). Set ID d20ed2aa-aa56-4709-9e7a-9243c71465c9. Accessed November 4, 2026.
41. U.S. National Library of Medicine, DailyMed. Telmisartan and hydrochlorothiazide tablet, label (Warnings: "Hydrochlorothiazide can cause hypokalemia and hyponatremia"). Set ID 681dfb5c-fc5c-427e-81f6-4b4e934978a2. Accessed November 4, 2026.
42. Leung AM, Braverman LE. Consequences of excess iodine. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2014;10(3):136-42. doi:10.1038/nrendo.2013.251. PMID:24342882
43. Kosuth M, Mason SA, Wattenberg EV. Anthropogenic contamination of tap water, beer, and sea salt. PLoS One. 2018;13(4):e0194970. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0194970. PMID:29641556
44. Cox KD, Covernton GA, Davies HL, Dower JF, Juanes F, Dudas SE. Human Consumption of Microplastics. Environ Sci Technol. 2019;53(12):7068-7074. doi:10.1021/acs.est.9b01517. PMID:31184127
45. Axe J. Reverse Microplastic Toxicity NATURALLY (Heals Mitochondria, Gut, Brain). The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2026. Get a good water filter, stop drinking out of plastic water bottles and switch to glass or stainless steel at 20:03; a reverse osmosis or solid carbon block filter for drinking water at 26:10 (YouTube times). YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIBpaNxBaMg&t=1203s
46. Karavoltsos S, Sakellari A, Bakeas E, Bekiaris G, Plavšić M, Proestos C, et al. Trace elements, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, mineral composition, and FT-IR characterization of unrefined sea and rock salts: environmental interactions. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2020;27(10):10857-10868. doi:10.1007/s11356-020-07670-2. PMID:31950411
47. Axe J. Top 10 Reasons You're Not Healing. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. May 12, 2025. A little sea salt on your food, with more fruits and vegetables, for hydration at 25:04; many electrolyte drinks carry far too much sodium and aren't balanced, at 25:25; a little Celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt on your meals and mineral-rich bone broth, at 25:35. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjU77gf__x4&t=1505s

Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CNS

Doctor of Natural Medicine · Founder, DrAxe.com

Dr. Axe is a certified doctor of natural medicine, clinical nutritionist, and multiple New York Times bestselling author. He has spent 20+ years in clinical practice helping people heal at the root cause and founded one of the most-visited natural-health platforms in the world.

Read the full bio →

This article is for educational purposes. See our medical disclaimer.