The following information is the property of a cool health site called cea-life.com.
I posted this copy when I believed their site to have gone off-line and they were kind enough to let me keep it here.
If it contains information that is untrue, please so I can look into it.

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Salt from the Sea

Most of the salt that is marketed to the processed food industry, or sold by grocery and healthfood retailers is sold as sea salt. The fact is that all salt originally came from the sea. Rock salt in mines is also sea salt that has gathered as deposits on ancient, dried seabeds. Altered and transported through time by unknown geological processes, this type of salt has not seen the sea for millions of years. The issue is one of terminology. In most instances, sodium chloride (NaCl) is the product commonly referred to as 'salt'. However, sea salt is a far more complex salt than NaCl. To avoid what is quite obviously misleading labelling, common salt should be marketed as 'sodium chloride, extracted from sea salt'.

Of course there are other forms of processed crystal salts extracted from the sea that retain far more of the constituent elements of original sea salt. 'Celtic sea salt' is one of these. Celtic salt comes in many forms and is characterised by grain size, colour and dampness. The whiter and dryer the salt the more it has been washed and 'purified'.

Mineral Nutrition

Mineral nutrients consist of two classes: the major elements such as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, iodine, and potassium; and trace elements such as copper, cobalt, manganese, fluorine, and zinc. All of these must be supplied in our diet because the body is unable to manufacture its own, and can only maintain its mineral balance for short periods of time. When the intake of minerals in our system becomes depleted, it draws from stores laid down in the muscles, the liver and even the bones. Our ancestors long ago recognised the value of minerals in their diet, particularly those derived from sea salt (as opposed to mined salt), although they had none of the sophisticated knowledge about natural biology or physiology that we have today. Instinct alone was their guide.

Minerals provide the spark for many of the body's cellular processes and keep them running efficiently. Without these finely-tuned chemical reactions no organism could function. Inorganic mineral nutrients are also essential in the structural composition of hard and soft body tissues and are necessary in processes such as the action of enzyme systems, the contraction of muscles, nerve reactions and the clotting of blood. Humans need a wide range of minerals to maintain good health and we need them in the right amounts and relations to each other (coaction). A variation of as little as one per cent in established limits will cause noticeable pathological states to occur.

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"Whenever a dietary deficiency of trace elements occurs, the cell loses its ability to control its ions - with dire consequences for humans. Even a minute loss of ion equilibrium causes cells to burst, nervous disorders, brain damage, or muscle spasms, as well as a breakdown of the cell regenerating process and growth." From Seasalt's Hidden Powers, Jacques de Langre, Ph.D, Happiness Press 1994

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The biological demands of the human body require salt concentration in the blood and the body fluids to be maintained at a constant level. Too little salt, or consumption of only refined salt, activates a hormonal mechanism that compensates by reducing the excretion of salt in the urine and from sweat glands. On a completely salt-less diet, small amounts of salt are lost via the kidneys and perspiration. The body then attempts to adjust to this situation by accelerating its secretion of water so that the blood's salt concentration is maintained at the level vital for survival. If this process continues the result is gradual desiccation, dehydration and finally death, which is often preceded by a loss of rational thinking (dementia). The cells literally die of thirst.

Conversely, a lack of water consumption will activate the body to retain water in order to maintain the salt concentration in the blood. In this case the hormonal control mechanism works in reverse. It attempts to reduce the secretion of water and increase the salt secretion to maintain the correct salt level. The body's normal craving for salt and for water strives toward the same vital need: a balanced and healthy saline internal fluid.

"Every second of every day your body relies on ionic minerals and trace minerals to conduct and generate billions of tiny electrical impulses. Without these impulses, not a single muscle, including your heart, would be able to function. Your brain would not function and the cells would not be able to use osmosis to balance water pressure and absorb nutrients. In fact, "many vital body processes depend on the movement of ions across cell membranes. Recent research indicates that minerals may play a significant role against a variety of degenerative diseases and processes. They may also prevent and reduce injury from environmental pollutants and enhance the ability to work and learn. They can also protect the body from the effects of toxic minerals." From Trace Minerals Research , 'Like Your Body, it Only Lights up with "Ionic" © 1996

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Mineral Absorption

The form that different minerals take also plays a key role in how well they are transported through the circulatory system and absorbed by the aqueous microenvironment of the cells. Interrelationships of minerals and trace minerals in their non-soluble form are not nearly as effective as those of soluble minerals.

No matter what the nutritional potential of a food, that nutrition is nonexistent if it does not pass the test of absorption. Minerals that your body is unable to break down to their ionic form are likely to pass from the body completely unassimilated, as though they were never consumed.

"Minerals that are absorbed in their ionic form are in true liquid solution and have either positive or negative charges. They also have unique properties that distinguish them from each other and allow them to freely take part in biochemical communication throughout the body. These communications help nutrients move to those areas of the body that are in most need of their help. Imbalances of any of these ions or certain trace ions in the body ... can lead to dysfunction in the conduction of electrical messages." From Trace Minerals Research , op. cit.

Much recent research indicates that the physiological reactions of our bodies are blocked and cannot utilise trace elements properly (mainly due to poor diet, pollution, stress and so on). This malfunction can lead to anything from simple deficiencies to the establishment of chronic illness.

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General Functions Performed by Sea Water's Soluble Minerals

Concentrated ocean water is a rich source of soluble minerals. The soluble minerals in sea water:

• Act as ionised conductors of the body's electrical current, which is necessary for all bodily functions.
  
• Act as catalysts and activators of other nutrients including vitamins.
  
• Are the building blocks of enzymes, hormones and other natural body chemicals used by the body to perform specific functions.
  
• Have an equalising and balancing effect. Body fluids, fluid pressures, and pH levels are balanced by minerals. In the absence of certain trace minerals, various heavy metals are more likely to accumulate. Trace minerals are often administered in the medical treatment of such disorders as lead poisoning.
  
• Are essential in digestion and absorption of nutrients by our body. Large amounts of chlorides are necessary for the body to make hydrochloric acid (for digestion). Other minerals are used in the absorption process.
  
• Replace the minerals that are lost in distilled water. Research shows that animals, as well as humans,benefit from mineral nutrients. Dramatic improvements in vigour, coat,and performance are reported in dogs, cats, chickens and horses.
  
• Are one of the highest quality and least expensive sources of magnesium. Magnesium is an important nutrient that hardens and strengthens bones and teeth.
  
• Have an effect on mental stability, thought process and reactions to stressful situations.
  

Specific mineral nutrients have a myriad of individual functions, many of which are yet to be discovered. What is known, however, is that imbalanced interactions of minerals, caused by consistent consumption of single processed or refined minerals, cause many long-term health problems such as hypertension. This is particularly evident when it comes to the most commonly refined mineral that many people take into their diet on a daily basis - sodium chloride.

"Clearly, nutrients function interactively both in the body and in their impact on blood pressure regulation. Whenever the consumption of a single nutrient is significantly altered, an entirely new dietary pattern is created. Nutrients occur in clusters in the diet and may therefore act synergistically to alter physiologic variables such as blood pressure." From Trace Minerals Research, 'Natural Balance' loc. cit.

When minerals are consumed in proper ratios, however, they can have an equally profound benefit on human health. Certain minerals and trace minerals, in balance, can serve additional non-classical roles like acting as antioxidants. Minerals and trace minerals can also assist each other in the process of assimilation, and create safety buffers for minerals that have the potential of being toxic to human health. Within the blood stream, lymphatic fluid, cells and extracellular fluid, minerals and trace minerals are found completely dissociated in solution. This is also known as 'electrolyte or ionic form'. In this state, they all have specific positive or negative electrical signatures that cause a dynamic equilibrium to take place.

The body can use minor changes in this equilibrium to create proper osmotic pressure, move nutrients to areas that need them most and create electrical impulses that run the entire nervous system. This same equilibrium can also be found in the waters of the ocean where minerals and trace minerals have collected and concentrated in liquid ionic form for millions of years. On a macrocosmic/microcosmic scale, it is astounding to realise that the dynamic equilibrium that takes place with liquid ionic minerals and trace minerals in healthy blood plasma, lymphatic and cellular fluids is the same basic balance that is found in sea water.

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