Last Updated on November 9, 2023 by Fasting Planet
Salt is in so much of the food we consume daily, even the sweet stuff (it turns out salt neutralizes bitterness so your desserts taste sweeter). Reading this blog has proven that table sugar may contain animal byproducts in the form of bone char, so what about salt? Can vegans eat it?
Yes, vegans can eat salt, especially iodized salt, which is the white stuff that comes out of most saltshakers. Other forms of specialty salt like sea salt or pink Himalayan salt are okay as well.
What’s the difference between one type of salt and another besides color and presentation? Do vegans get enough salt in their diets or do they need more? Which plant-based foods are salty? We’ll answer all those questions and more ahead, so make sure you keep reading!
The Types of Salt
If you ever spend time at a spice shop, you’ll see a large variety of salts for sale. The different colors are mesmerizing, although you can’t help but wonder whether the salts are artificially dyed. After all, you never see anything but plain ol’ white salt at the grocery store.
These salts are natural, as there’s a whole wide world of salt outside of regular table salt. Let’s talk more about the different types of salt now.
Table Salt
Table salt is comprised of sodium chloride, anywhere from 97 to 99 percent of the ionic compound. The salt that ends up in your saltshakers starts as rock salt that’s mined. It then gets processed and refined at a facility, where it’s mixed with magnesium carbonate or sodium aluminosilicate. These agents prevent the salt from caking up and lend it more flow.
Iodized Salt
A form of table salt, iodized salt is fortified with a mineral called iodine. Although more research is needed, iodine may play a role in how well your immune system functions. The mineral is much better known for impacting thyroid health.
The thyroid gland relies on iodine to make thyroid hormones. The hormone controls our heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, growth, metabolism, and tissue repair, so iodine is very important!
Iodine is found in a lot of foods, including cheese, yogurt, milk, seafood such as shrimp and seaweed, and fish like tuna and cod.
Alaea Salt
Hawaiian red salt or Alaea salt is one such colorful salt variety that would catch your eye on any store shelf. The natural color comes from volcanic clay known as ‘alaea, which has lots of iron oxide. The result is a dark red hue.
As unrefined salt, each grain of Hawaiian red salt is large. Alaea salt is a crucial part of Hawaiian cuisine, especially dishes like jerky or pipikaula, poke, and kalua pig.
Kala Namak
Himalayan black salt or Kala namak hails from South Asia. It too contains sodium chloride, but Kala namak tends to have quite an odor that some people might find unappealing. The smell is like sulfur.
Pink Himalayan salt comes from Kala namak, although the color of the salt depends on how much greigite is in the salt minerals. Greigite is a type of iron sulfide-based mineral.
Flaked Salt
Most types of salt can be flaked, but you see it most often with table salt and sea salt, the latter of which may be added to cookies or cakes to give the desserts a more dramatic presentation.
Sea Salt
The ocean is a rich source of salt, and when that salt is evaporated from the water, the resulting product is sea salt. Its ingredients are as follows (in order of largest quantities to smallest): chloride, sodium, sulfate, magnesium, calcium, potassium, bicarbonate, bromide, borate, strontium, fluoride, silicate, and iodide.
Although it comes down to personal preference, sea salt may boast a more appealing texture and flavor than regular table salt to some people.
Kosher Salt
Iodine-free, kosher salt has many of the same anti-caking agents as well as the sodium chloride levels of table salt. You can’t expect all kosher salt to meet hescher requirements for being truly kosher, so make sure you check your food labels carefully!
Do Vegans Eat Salt?
Eschewing salt completely is a dietary move that some vegans choose to make, but often to the detriment of their health. Salt is more than just a topping for savory dishes, but a crucial nutrient for human life.
Salt allows our muscles to contract and expand and our nerves to react. It can regulate and–when overeaten–increase our blood pressure.
White table salt is that color naturally, so there’s no need for it to undergo bleaching with animal bone char like white sugar. Himalayan salt and Hawaiian salt are colorful due to minerals and compounds within the salt, not because they were dyed with artificial colors.
There’s nothing in salt that vegans need to avoid, so yes, they do eat it, although maybe not enough.
What Happens If You Don’t Get Enough Salt as a Vegan?
A 2003 report in the journal Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism found that vegans and vegetarians alike are more likely to be deficient in iodine. The study says that 80 percent of its vegan participants and 25 percent of its vegetarian participants failed to consume enough iodine.
The study included only 81 people, so it’s an incredibly small sample size. Still, it only takes going back to the beginning of this article and looking at all the non-vegan sources of iodine to see where a deficiency could develop.
If you’re not ingesting enough iodine, how would you know? Here are some side effects to note.
Menstrual Changes
This only applies to women, but if your period usually arrives like clockwork, an iodine deficiency can throw that off. Besides an irregular period, when your menstrual cycle does begin, you may notice you bleed more than usual. Both symptoms tie back to the unregulated thyroid levels an iodine deficiency can cause.
Remembering and Learning Difficulties
This 2013 report in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism compared how a group of 1,000 adult participants did on memory and learning tests. Some of the participants had reduced thyroid levels and others had higher thyroid functioning. The latter group remembered more and learned better.
Why is this? Your thyroid sends some of its hormones to the hippocampus in the brain. Without enough hormones due to an iodine deficiency, your brain is underdeveloped and underutilized.
Heart Rate Increases or Decreases
We mentioned before that thyroid hormone regulates your heart rate. Without enough of the hormone, your heart rate may be slow, even when you exercise and otherwise exert yourself. Overdoing it on the iodine can cause the opposite reaction, leading to a very quick heart rate, including when at rest.
Being Cold
Do you shiver even under a blanket? Are you chilled to the bone when everyone around you seems comfortable in the same environment? With lower-than-usual thyroid levels, your metabolism grinds to a halt. Part of what influences your body heat is your metabolism, so the slower it is, the colder you feel.
Skin and Hair Changes
Your skin can look different if you have an iodine deficiency. Reduced thyroid functioning decreases skin cell regeneration rates so the external layer of skin you’re left with is flaky, itchy, and dry.
Your hair stops growing as well, as the regeneration of hair follicles cannot continue. For some people, hair loss can even occur.
Which Vegan Foods Are a Good Source of Salt?
Are you at risk of an iodine deficiency or you’re just recovering from one? You’ll want to take extra precautions to ensure you get your daily levels of salt. Since loading up on dairy and seafood is not allowed on the vegan diet, what can you eat?
Try any of these plant-based foods instead!
Swiss Chard
All your veggies don’t have to be green. Whether you cook it or eat it raw, the ruby red vegetable known as swiss chard has 103 milligrams of sodium per cup and lots and lots of vitamin K.
Salad Dressing
Check the label of your favorite vegan salad dressing. A serving of the stuff–which is usually two tablespoons–may contain between 100 and 200 milligrams of sodium if not more! Go light on the dressing and definitely don’t put salad dressing on swiss chard, as that’s salt overload.
Cardoons
Have you ever heard of a cardoon before? This thistle plant has edible, celery-like leaves that taste great when fried, braised, steamed, or even enjoyed raw. For every cup of cardoons you eat, you’re ingesting 303 milligrams of sodium, which is plenty.
Cardoons are also a great source of potassium, magnesium, and fiber, but definitely make sure you don’t overdo it.
Beets
If you want a less salty vegetable in the same vein as swiss chard, incorporate beets into your lunch or dinner instead. Per beat, you’re consuming about 65 milligrams of salt.
Cantaloupe
Yes, that’s right! You’re not stuck with just vegetables if you want to get your salt fix as a vegan. A cup of cantaloupe has 25 milligrams of salt and a whole large cantaloupe 130 milligrams. Cantaloupe isn’t overly sweet either, so it’s a great choice for a midafternoon snack.
Celery
Celery may be mostly water, but it’s also composed of sodium. Per stalk of celery, you may ingest up to 50 milligrams of salt, which is not too shabby. If you’re more of a carrot person, a large carrot is loaded with just as much sodium.
Conclusion
Vegans can eat salt since it’s naturally colored and doesn’t require bone char to become white. As a vegan, you might want to make extra sure you’re ingesting enough iodine, as plant-eaters are notoriously deficient in this mineral.
Just make sure you don’t go too far in the other direction, as overdoing it on the salt is bad for your health in different ways!