Pink Himalayan salt, nutritionists reveal the bluff: "Impure and costs twice as much."

 

It is a question of color, which pleases and which attracts, but the pink salt of the Himalayas does not have many beneficial properties for health. The result of a skillful commercial operation is friend or foe of health precisely like the other salts, with the difference that it is impure and costs twice as much. To dispel one of the many clichés at the table is the nutritionist Andrea Ghiselli, director of the Crea-Food and Nutrition Research Center, who does not hesitate to talk about actual fake news for one of the most excellent products of the moment.

However, a fake has become a social phenomenon. According to the US magazine Atlantic, more than 70,000 Instagram photos have #pinksalt as the hashtag and are constantly growing, thanks also to the push of chefs and bloggers of all kinds. At the same time, books dedicated to the properties of this ancient Asian salt abound. and objects such as lamps. "This salt owes its color to impurities of some minerals such as iron, zinc, magnesium and calcium and above all to iron oxide - explains the researcher - substances that are not present in such quantities as to bring any benefit."

In short, Ghiselli does not mince words to reject a salt that is not only not a cure-all for water retention, hypertension, and thyroid gland but, according to the Atlantic, is not harvested by hand, as often written on the packaging but with machinery and with the help of an internal railway. And above all, it does not come from the highest mountain in the world; most of the pink salt comes from the Kewhra mine 300 km south of the Himalayan range in Pakistan. As for the correct consumption of salt, the researcher's advice based on WHO data is 5 grams per day, bearing in mind that in ordinary table salt, the percentage of sodium chloride, if pure is only white, is 98% - 99%.

 

That colored salt is a bluff is not new news for those who have the hobby of collecting sea salt from natural pools in an amateur way. The do-it-yourselfers discard what is not white, knowing that the one rich in shades indicates impurities. But the charm of pink does not stop with salt. It also seems to be trendy in the glass. The latest invention comes from Spain with Lágrimas de Unicornio, a glittery pastel pink wine with an alcohol content of 11.5 degrees and a lovely and fruity flavor reminiscent of candy. Thanks to the presence of particular mineral pigments, it shines in the light, as if it were full of glitter, becoming popular on the web.

Because pink Himalayan salt isn't the miracle ingredient you thought it would be

In recent decades, the pink salt of the Himalayas has experienced unexpected success thanks to its vaunted properties: it would have the power to fight water retention and hypertension, improve the absorption capacity of the intestine, and the health of bones and kidneys. To reduce cramps, improve night's rest, and even increase sexual desire. In short, this salt, which is pink because it is not refined and subjected to whitening treatments, has been promoted several times as the perfect, healthier substitute for ordinary table salt. But what's true?

 

Indeed it is not precisely a zero-kilometer product, given that it comes from a very extensive mine in Pakistan. Its price is not exactly affordable (in fact, it costs from 7 to 30 times more than sea salt). Still, there is more: its use would be, or instead, it is, only an expensive food fashion, and the scientific popularizer and chemist Dario Bressanini tried to shed some light through a video published on YouTube and his social channels.

The main buffaloes on Himalayan pink salt

Among the buffaloes that run on the sale rosa dell'Himalaya, its presumed purity is considered pure because it is ancient. But, as the chemist explains, each food salt must contain at least 97% sodium chloride and therefore must be almost sterile. Sea salt is mistakenly considered more polluted because it is obtained from seawater (today is much more polluted than millions of years ago from which pink salt derives, they tell us). However, it still undergoes a refining process and purification before being put on the market.

 

As for the quantity of iron contained in the Himalayan rose salt (whose color derives precisely from the presence of iron oxide), according to what is reported by numerous scientific articles, the result varies according to the sample taken in the mine. For this reason, even comparing the data with the daily suggested iron doses, which vary according to sex and age, even if only Himalayan roses were used in the diet instead of sea salt, the amount of iron assumed is negligible.

 

Finally, in the same, the Himalayan roses are not present nor the famous 84 trace elements (from 10 to 20 were found based on the sample analyzed, including some substances that not only do not serve our body but that even, in large quantities, are toxic as cadmium and nickel) nor the precious iodine, which experts recommend the intake also through the use of iodized salt to avoid dangerous deficiencies that cause even serious health problems.

 

The myth of the Himalayan pink salt and how to save yourself from buffaloes

It all started, says Bressanini, in the nineties, when a (self-styled) biophysicist Peter Ferreira began to hold a series of conferences in Germany in which he talked about the virtues of this salt. When a hoax is repeated for years and years, it becomes more and more difficult to deny it. But, recalls the popularizer, in the scientific field, "the burden of proof lies with those who make statements, it is not up to others to deny them." For this reason, there is a straightforward and practical solution that can always be applied to learn to recognize the hoaxes: you have to ask those who support your theories for the evidence or scientific studies. (serious) who endorse them and "consider as zero, null, whatever these people say if they are not proven."