Whether it is refined salt or natural salt, you must be careful about your salt intake, as both can lead to excessive salt consumption!

We are looking at four foods that affect longevity and short life, but before we delve deeper into salt, which has the greatest impact, I would like to touch upon what kind of commercialized salt we consume on a daily basis.

Salt is classified into three types based on the manufacturing method.

The first is "sea salt," which is obtained by evaporating seawater. Salt dried in the sun is called "sun-dried salt," and salt boiled down over a fire is called "kettle-fired salt."

The second is "lake salt," which is salt harvested from "salt lakes." It is salt where crystals naturally appear on the surface of the lake water or the ground.

And the third is "rock salt." It is a mass of salt formed over millions of years when ancient seas were trapped by tectonic movements. Himalayan rock salt (pictured) is famous.

In terms of global market share, rock salt accounts for 60%, sea salt for 30%, and lake salt for 10%. This is a bit surprising considering that Japan is almost entirely dependent on sea salt. In Japan, neither rock salt nor lake salt can be harvested. Therefore, sea salt is the mainstream, but because Japan has high humidity, there is little sun-dried salt, and it is basically kettle-fired salt.

These are called natural salts and are distinguished from refined salts that are processed in factories. Although sun-dried salt and kettle-fired salt are also refined, I would like to consider them separately from what is generally referred to as refined salt.

Refined salt and natural salt were touched upon in the column on May 10, 2024, but we are looking at the manufacturing method of refined salt using ion-exchange membranes. I hope you will also refer to past columns.

It is often said that refined salt is bad for your health. It may feel like you can consume as much natural salt as you want, but you must be careful about your salt intake in any case.

The difference between refined salt and natural salt is often cited as the difference in the content of mineral components such as calcium, potassium, and magnesium.

In Japan, refined salt is made by removing a large amount of water from imported raw salt in a factory and refining it until the sodium chloride concentration is 99.5% or higher. Therefore, most of the minerals are lost.

However, because it is refined at a significantly lower cost compared to the production of the natural salts mentioned above, the retail price for consumers can be kept to less than one-tenth.

So, does natural salt really contain abundant minerals and contribute to health?

Regarding this, I will explain in detail tomorrow, including the verification results.