Just as you’ve made the switch from table salt to Himalayan pink salt and are trying a pinch of salt in your morning water it’s time to change it up again. Grey salt is now very much on the menu.
Grey salt–or sel gris–is otherwise known as Celtic sea salt, and it’s giving pink salt a run for its money in the popularity stakes. As nutritionist Jessica Shand explains, it contains trace minerals. “It’s a type of unrefined sea salt that is harvested from the Atlantic coastal regions of France,” she says. “Its light grey color comes from the minerals that are absorbed in the clay lining of the salt ponds–magnesium, iron, calcium, potassium, manganese, zinc, and iodine–all needed in our bodies [in order for our] hormones to function optimally.”
Does grey salt help our hormones?
“The trace minerals found in grey salt are often used to support hormone balance,” says Shand, who often opts for and recommends grey salt. “I use unrefined salt to promote the health of adrenal gland function, as it assists the body’s stress response and in particular, in cases of unregulated thyroid, it plays a role in regulating metabolism and therefore helps improve energy levels, too.”
Celtic sea salt can also be used to boost electrolytes. “Grey salt balances electrolytes in the body which is crucial for nerve function and improving the absorption of water in the body by actually preventing dehydration,” says Shand, who likes to make an “adrenal tonic” by adding a pinch of grey salt to a glass of coconut water with a good squeeze of lemon or lime.
A word of caution: experts recommend limiting salt of any kind in your diet because of its high sodium content. Too much salt can put you at risk of high blood pressure and heart disease in later life. Less refined salts contain trace minerals, but still have the same basic nutritional value as regular table salt.