>[...] Sodium is a nutrient that
>contributes to good water balance, blood pH, and stomach, nerve, and
>muscle function. Most sea salt is so refined that only trace amounts of
>minerals remain. Even expensive, unprocessed sea salt is not worth it
>because you get more iron and phosphorous in a single grape than you
>would get from an unpalatable amount of sea salt. The small amounts of
>calcium and magnesium in unprocessed sea salt cannot even be considered
>trace amounts. Larger crystal sea salt lends a more biting taste.


Thank you for the summary.  Sodium is indeed an important nutrient; for
example, it alkalinizes the blood.  Unrefined sea salt needn't be that
expensive, however; I pay about $3.60 Canadian per 500 g, which doesn't seem
too exorbitant to me.

Someone posted the following ingredients list from her package of "Celtic
Sea Salt":

<<Chloride 51%
Sodium 32%
Water (from crystallization) 7%
Sulfur 1.12%
Zinc 0.87%
Magnesium 0.50%
Iron 0.38%
Potassium 0.26%
Manganese 0.026%
Copper 0.018%
Calcium 0.012%
Silicon 0.011%
plus about 50 other micronutrients (which are listed, but would take me
forever to type with their percentages)

This independent analysis was supplied by The Laboratory of Analytical and
Hydrological Chemistry of Nantes University - France.>>

So, the Medical Data Exchange summary is accurate; salt is a poor source of
iron, phosphorus, calcium, and magnesium.  But none of these examples are
trace minerals; it would make more sense to consider minerals which are
required in only minute amounts, such as manganese or iodine.  That being
said, I just punched a couple of numbers into my calculator, and discovered
that I would need to consume about 10 g of unrefined salt per day to fulfill
the minimum RDA for manganese; that seems like a lot, even to me (of course,
a more realistic analysis would include other sources of minerals).  Still,
every bit helps.  At any rate, I favour unrefined salt not only for what it
includes, but also for what it doesn't have (additives and chemical
residues).

Cheers,
-- Aaron Wieland