My restaurant is called the Whole in the Wall in Binghamton,NY. We’ve been around for 32 years. We do also make 7 different kinds of all natural pestos that we ship nationwide, in case you had a hankering. That bamboo salt sounds intriguing to me as well.

I’m also a nutritional consultant, and the issue of children and nutrition that you focus on is so important, thank you. I’m curious if you’re familiar with the work of Dr Weston A Price, and the web site that carries on his discoveries. He was very focused on Cod liver oil, and another substance obtained from butter from grassfed cows fed rapidly growing spring grass, which he referred to as the X Factor. He discovered that the 2 substances worked synergistically, and the X factor has since been determined to be Vitamin K2. Of course we now know K2 is the missing link in directing calcium to the bones and teeth,a and away from the arteries.

I didn’t know RealSalt – sounds great and like a smart idea. And you’re right, the markups on some of the designer sea salts are pretty dramatic.

I first came across Bamboo Salt on Wikipedia (“in traditional Korean cuisine, jukyeom (죽염, 竹鹽), which means “bamboo salt”, is prepared by roasting salt at temperatures between 800 and 2000 °C[12] in a bamboo container plugged with mud at both ends. This product absorbs minerals from the bamboo and the mud, and has been shown to increase the anticlastogenic and antimutagenic properties of the fermented soybean paste known in Korea as doenjang.[13]“) and later at a restaurant in the Bay Area. I haven’t looked into it in depth – just intrigued by it as a traditional salt.

Running a natural foods restaurant, as I do, I just see so many people that knee-jerk “sodium is bad”, without actually understanding the details that we just discussed. They thus often avoid very healthy foods based on urban legend.

As you suggest, and to be more clear, my concern is not at all about the sodium found naturally in whole foods – and not even much by the use of salt in cooking at home or added at the table — but with the extreme amounts of added sodium chloride in so many over-processed foods for kids.

The medical literature on the effects of sodium chloride in kids is indeed complex, with some studies reaching very different conclusions. My hunch is that this has to do with other factors, such as the ratio of potassium to sodium chloride in the diet. While the studies are being sorted out, it seems prudent to me to encourage delicious real foods made in ways humans have enjoyed for centuries, if not millennia.

As for sea salt versus refined table salt – I agree that the additional minerals could make a big difference. On the plus side, with sea salt you could get more calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, selenium, and zinc. On the other side, in part because of industrial pollution, you might also end up with more mercury, lead, cadmium, and other heavy metals — though the amounts are very low. These levels vary from brand to brand, and I didn’t want to get too complicated.

Sel de Mer, Murray River, and Primordial Himalaya have been tested and have especially low levels of the toxic metals. I’ve also been intrigued by bamboo salt. http://www.spexcertiprep.com/uploads/MetalsGourmetSalts_ApplicationNote.pdf

I love Joe and Terry Graedon! Thanks for getting in touch.

Also surprised you don’t differentiate between table salt and high quality, unrefined sea salt, which has a balance of other minerals. In addition, on People’s Pharmacy (how I discovered you), they interviewed a European researcher who presented a number of studies showing that the who salt scare is in large part unfounded. By the way, I wholly support your mission and what you do overall.

Sodium hides in places that may not be intuitive. I put them in order already. The salad with Ranch Dressing would be even higher.