Allergic to sea salt??

[KnottedYet]

Iodine does occur naturally in sea salt.

It does not occur in NaCl commercial salt, which is why it is added during manufacture.

Man-made table salt has standardized amounts of iodine. Sea salt iodine occurs in varying amounts.

[tulip]

Thanks for the clarification. It's no wonder that I nearly flunked chemistry in high school! My container of California Sea Salt states, "This salt does not supply iodide, a necessary nutrient." I guess iodide and iodine are different, huh?

NYB, I hope you figure out what's going on so you can avoid those reactions. They sound quite uncomfortable.

[alpinerabbit]

You can hardly be allergic to two elements that are absolutely essential to basically all body functions.

Maybe something IN sea salt, but not the Na or the Cl.


rabbit - whose alpine origins may have something to do with an increasing intolerance to invertebrates. The last crab had its revenge on me.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

You can hardly be allergic to two elements that are absolutely essential to basically all body functions.
Maybe something IN sea salt, but not the Na or the Cl.

That makes sense to me.
Once when I was waitressing i had a woman customer who told me they were 'deathly allergic to salt' and they couldn't have anything on the menu with salt in it. i told her that pretty much eliminated everything except a salad with plain olive oil on it and herbs. She then asked about the chicken soup, and I said I was sure it had salt in it, though not overly huge amounts. She ordered it anyway, saying 'a little salt would be ok'.

I got that kind of thing regularly while waitressing. I'm not saying some people aren't seriously and genuinely allergic to some things. But I too wonder how one can be allergic to a mineral or nutrient that we need in our bodies to survive? Like Alpinerabbit, I too would first suspect other ingredients like preservatives, dyes, texturizers, additives, etc.

[OakLeaf]

Here's more than you wanted to know about iodine allergy.

http://www.ajronline.org/cgi/reprint/169/4/951

[ny biker]

I did a skin test last night. Put some sea salt in my hand, added a little water and rubbed it on my right wrist. Did the same thing with table salt on my left wrist. Sat down to watch tv. After a few minutes, my right wrist started to itch and some red bumps appeared. Left wrist was fine.

This weekend I will try ingesting it.

If this is a problem, I know it's not the salt. It's the "sea" aspect that is potentially the allergen. And fwiw, although I would like to find a cause for the allergy I do not want to be allergic to sea salt. It will be hard to avoid. Even Wendy's is starting to use it on their fries.

[emily_in_nc]

Just read an article tonight about eating well for your thyroid, and making sure to get adequate iodine was one of the things mentioned. And yep, sea salt was one of the foods they listed that was a good source of iodine. Lemme see if I can find it.... Here t'is: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/foo...r-thyroid.html

Sure sounds like you might have an iodine allergy, from your past flare-ups and the test you did on your arm!

[Crankin]

Well, now I know why I get allergic symptoms when I eat things that I know I'm not allergic to. They must have sea salt with iodine in them...

[Eden]

That makes sense to me.
Once when I was waitressing i had a woman customer who told me they were 'deathly allergic to salt' and they couldn't have anything on the menu with salt in it....... I'm not saying some people aren't seriously and genuinely allergic to some things. But I too wonder how one can be allergic to a mineral or nutrient that we need in our bodies to survive?

I'll agree with that There are absolutely food allergies, dangerous ones, but there are definitely people who use "allergic to" instead of "don't like" or "don't want to"

I had to go see the allergist so that I can have my prescriptions renewed (no food allergies for me, just pollen ones). He asked me if I'd had a flu shot and I told him yes, that I work in a hospital so its pretty much required. He told me that many local hospitals were sending people that claimed egg allergy or flu shot allergy to him these days to be tested to be sure they were actually allergic, rather than just not wanting to get their flu shot... oh ouch - calling their bluffs...
The hospital I work at allows declinations for no reason, but I work with sick kids. Even though I've never had the flu, I'd feel like a total heel if I got sick and spread it around to little kids who already have health problems.

[ny biker]

I'll agree with that There are absolutely food allergies, dangerous ones, but there are definitely people who use "allergic to" instead of "don't like" or "don't want to"

There are also food intolerances -- no allergic reaction, but the GI tract has trouble digesting a certain food due to a missing enzyme or some other reason, resulting in various stomach and intestinal issues. I have this problem with tomatoes. I can generally have them in small quantities, like a few slices on a sandwich. But recently I had fair amount of stewed tomatoes with dinner on a Monday followed by tomato soup for lunch on Wednesday, and I was sick for a week.

The problem with food intolerance is that other than lactose intolerance, most people are not familiar with it so it's a pain in the a** to explain, especially in a restaurant. So it's easier to just say you're allergic, even though you might be able to eat a small quantity without problems.

[OakLeaf]

Exactly. Like the woman Lisa mentioned most likely had salt-sensitive hypertension, kidney problems, or something of the like. Maybe she knew the difference between that and an allergy and maybe she didn't, but it surely is easier to say.

Even more fun with someone like me. I have non-anaphylactoid histamine reactions to a lot of common foods. I was diagnosed as allergic by a Board-certified allergist, I test positive according to serum antibodies, systemic reaction to subcutaneous injection, AND a challenge diet. But there's some scientific dispute as to what qualifies technically as an allergy and what doesn't - some authorities contend that the type of reaction I have to foods is not a true allergy because I don't have an anaphylactic reaction (even though I have basically the exact same symptoms as the type of reaction I have to, say, ragweed pollen or alternaria spores). So there are people who are not doctors or biologists who will absolutely insist that I don't have food allergies, and want to argue with me about it.

What-ev', peeps. I don't like yeast, if that's the way someone wants to look at it. I don't like wheat or milk or corn. As long as they understand that what I don't like about all of those things is the pounding heart as soon as I eat them, the palpitations, and being congested, itchy and edematous for three or four days afterward.

[KnottedYet]

Thanks for the clarification. It's no wonder that I nearly flunked chemistry in high school! My container of California Sea Salt states, "This salt does not supply iodide, a necessary nutrient." I guess iodide and iodine are different, huh?

Naw, they're pretty much the same thing. But since sea salt from that patch of California salt flat may not have the minimal required amount needed for proper thyroid function, they have to label it as being deficient. Salt from another patch of salt flat or from one salt mine or another may have the minimal amount, or may have much more than the minimal amount.

Goiter hardly ever showed up in sea-shore cultures, so a lifetime of eating from the sea does supply enough iodine. But if all a person gets is sea salt (and not sea food) they may not get enough. Or, if they happen to be lucky enough to get sea salt with a lot of natural iodine they may get plenty.

I read a really interesting book about early 1900's inland China, and the rampant goiter in the population. Meanwhile, up in the Himalaya there was less goiter because of the access to salt from the Himalayan salt deposits (and fossilized sea creatures, way up high in the mountains! its a very cool area geologically.)