Salt and toxic heavy metals? We swapped our salt with a cleaner one!
posted on
August 1, 2025
Are you choosy when it comes to the salt you use? Yea, Miller's is, too.
On the one hand, we want natural (not highly processed) salt packed with minerals (including metals like zinc and magnesium). On the other hand, we don't want an overload of toxic heavy metals and microplastics.
So, when Jesse from Dream Salts reached out about his pink Himalayan sea salt last year, I was skeptical. I told him that I needed to see some test results before the team could even consider switching salts.
Jesse pulled through, and I'm super happy with the results.
Our new pink Himalayan sea salt has half the amount of lead compared to Selina Naturally's Celtic Sea Salt. It also had no microplastics detected at a low LOQ (limit of quantification).
"Normal" table salt is highly processed.
Table salt starts as something natural - salt mined from the earth. But then, it goes through some heavy processing. This removes all impurities, including all those minerals that are beneficial for us.
Once it's purified, an "anti-caking agent" is typically added. This prevents the salt from caking, especially when it's humid out. In fact, that's where Morton Salt got its famous slogan - "when it rains it pours"!
Iodine is a common anti-caking agent, and it's probably the most natural one, too. Consuming a little bit of iodine is absolutely necessary for optimal health. But, as with most things, getting it naturally is best. You can get iodine naturally from seaweed, fish Greek yogurt, milk, and eggs. Plus, the iodine added to salt is typically lab produced.
Other anti-caking agents might be used in table salt, too. These may include calcium silicate, sodium aluminosilicate, ferrocyanides like sodium ferrocyanide (E535), potassium ferrocyanide (E536), and calcium ferrocyanide (E538).
Table salt is usually finer and dissolves more quickly. It also has a sharp flavor.
Sea salt is more natural.
Sea salt isn't highly processed. It's salt that was naturally occurring in the ocean, either today or a long time ago. There are 2 kinds of sea salt:
- From the ocean: This is when sea water is let to dry. The water evaporates, leaving the salt behind. Ever get out of the ocean and find your skin left with a whitish hue? That's salt that dried on your skin! Selina Naturally's Celtic Sea Salt is dried from today's Celtic Sea.
- From the land: This is from a salty body of water that dried up a long time ago. For example, Redmond Salt is from the ancient Sundance Sea in Utah. And, pink Himalayan salt is mined in Pakistan from mountains near the Himalayas.
When salt is naturally occurring and not processed, it's packed with minerals which we need for optimal health. It's like a natural supplement!
On the flip side, it also can contain impurities like sand, shells, rocks, clay, and pollution (and sometimes anti-caking agents are added, too). Think about all the pollution in today's oceans. Yup, that can reside in sea salt harvested from the water!
Microplastics in today's oceans can make their way into sea salt.
It's no secret that our oceans are filled with plastic, slowly getting churned smaller and smaller into more and more microplastics. I read somewhere that an average human contains a credit card's worth of plastic inside them now. Wow!
Microplastics are a fairly new thing, and more research is needed. But, they seem to potentially cause a host of problems including reproductive, digestive, and respiratory issues, and may even be linked to cancer.
This is why I was pretty excited to see Dream Salt's test results. They tested for a range of microplastics, and none were detected at the low LOQs of 5-50 parts per billion. Love that!
Minerals are good. Toxic heavy metals are bad.
Sea salt is packed with minerals that we need - magnesium, iron, potassium, zinc, calcium, selenium, etc. These are good to consume. But, some of these that we commonly call "minerals" are actually metals.
Some metals like magnesium and zinc are good for us (of course in moderation) but some we don't need at all and can be toxic and cause damage, even in smaller amounts. The top 4 toxic heavy metals to watch for are arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury.
You may remember a blast of muckraking articles about sea salt last year. They specifically called out Selina Naturally's Celtic sea salt for its high levels of arsenic and lead. In fact, their lead issue is now part of a lawsuit. Yeesh!
And, wow, we use their Celtic sea salt. What's going on here?
To start, Miller's of course assessed its choice in sea salt. Basically, we're using sea salt for its minerals, and that comes with all kinds of metals and is in every sea salt (of course unless it's processed). We felt that, in the amount we use it, it was not harmful to anyone.
Let's look at this through the lens of Mike Adams, the Health Ranger. He has a scale to rate the cleanliness of toxic metals in products. And this scale relates to the end product, not each ingredient. When it comes to salt, only a little bit is in each bite, so any level of contamination gets diluted.
Selina Naturally's salt on its own rates a low B, with 489 ppb of lead (or 0.489 ppm). Our new Dream Salt also rates a B, but much closer to an A, with about half the amount of lead at 269 ppb (or 0.269 ppm).
When we have an opportunity to reduce toxins, we do it!
The Actual Test Results
Because you deserve to know and see everything...
I'm happy to announce that we're not only selling this pink Himalayan sea salt, but we're also using it in our fresh dairy products and sausages made from this point forward. Hooray!
As an FYI --- There are other foods we offer that still use Selena Naturally's Celtic sea salt. We'll be slowly working with our small scale makers to make the switch across the board. But, it will take some time!
What sea salt do you choose? What's most important to you when choosing a salt? What do you think about our salt switch?
I'd love to hear from you. Comment below to share your thoughts with our amazing community, or contact us to keep it private 😊
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