Himalayan salt - what's the deal?

Himalayan salt, also known as Himalayan crystal salt or sometimes marketed as Jurassic sea salt, is a type of unrefined rock salt best known for its pretty pink colour. The colour originates from a common microorganism that had lived in it, along with the natural presence of approximately 84 minerals and elements used by the human body, including magnesium and iodine. 

Considered the purest salt on earth, it matured under intense tectonic pressure in an toxin free environment in a primal seabed of the Permian and Cretaceous eras. The sea became landlocked and evaporated, leaving a dense salt deposit. Over the next few hundred million years, that deposit was at the border of a continental plate and was pushed up into a mountain range in Pakistan. The concentration of salt near in Punjab province of Pakistan may have first been discovered around 326 BC when troops led by Alexander the Great observed their horses licking salty rocks. 

Popular in Ayurvedic, Tibetan, and other traditions, the jury is out on the health benefits of Himalayan salt but many believe that its unique cellular structure allows it to store vibrational energy. In addition, it is believed to regulate water levels in the body, aid vascular health, support respiratory function, reduce cramps, promote stable pH balance, encourage healthy blood sugar levels, promote kidney and gallbladder health, encourage healthy sleep patterns and encourage a healthy libido. Some call this pseudoscience, but Tightwad is pretty swayed by these health benefit claims. This is particularly in light of the fact that the trouble with processed table salt, according to some Himalayan salt advocates, is that it is void of trace minerals, having been processed with questionable chemicals and dried at more than 1,200^o Fahrenheit. It is considered energetically dead because of the disruption of its natural chemical structures and the body must expend tremendous amounts of energy to metabolize and neutralize it and keep the body in a state of optimum fluid balance.

Definitely, says Tightwad, food for thought.