Low-Salt Diet

Although possibly flawed as its critics claim, the conclusions reached in the recent study of the role of salt in the American diet may be accurate nonetheless (“Study Questions Low-Salt Diet; Critics Call Research Unusable,” March 13).

The body requires about 100 minerals and trace minerals in order to function normally. These minerals are absorbed and utilized by our blood, bone and tissue, including the brain, as “cell salts.” Common table salt, sodium chloride, represents only one of these salts and is usually refined into a very powerful substance in order to impart maximum “saltiness.” “Refined” means the absence of virtually all other minerals and elements that may diminish the salty taste. This obvious deficit is unhealthy, a fact realized several decades ago when salt manufacturers began restoring iodine to their product.

Probably what salt studies reveal more than anything is the unwholesomeness of using manufactured substances amped up to unnatural strengths.

ROSEMARIE SEANEY

Laguna Beach