If you've been inside a grocery store in the past couple of years, you've probably noticed the trend in food manufacturers adding "Made with sea salt" to their product packaging. The claim shows up on a wide variety of foods - from organic whole grain pretzels, to mixed nuts, to "American deli cheese product."

    Clearly the food industry has decided salt from the sea is a major selling point. But why? Is it better for us than plain old table salt?

    "Sea salt gets a health halo, and people are using a lot more of it," said Alissa Rumsey, a registered dietitian at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. "The most significant difference is the texture."

    Sea salts are coarser and grainier than table salt because the former undergo less processing than the latter, Rumsey said. Sea salts are made from evaporated sea water. Table salt, on the other hand, usually comes from underground salt mines and is processed into finer crystals.

    The less-processed aspect of sea salt may be appealing, but both types of salt have the same basic nutritional value, Rumsey said.

    "With some foods, less processing does equal healthier," like whole grains versus refined grains, she said. "But I wouldn't say sea salt is healthier than table salt.

    "A teaspoon of table salt is finer, so it has more sodium by volume. But technically by weight they contain the same percentage of sodium — about 40 percent."

    Table salt is usually fortified with iodine, a practice that's been around since the early 20th century.

    Sea salt may retain some other minerals depending on the water source - but generally not enough to make a difference in your diet.

    One thing sea salt doesn't have is added iodine, which you'll often see noted on its label.

    The most important thing to remember: Sea salt is still salt, and you shouldn't consume too much of it.

    Words to Learn 相关词汇

    粗大的

    cūdà de

    coarse

    composed of relatively large parts or particles

    蒸发

    zhēngfā

    evaporate

    change from a liquid or solid state into vapor

    海盐比食用盐更健康吗？

    过去几年里如果常去食品杂货店，你很可能注意到这种趋势，越来越多食品加工商在产品包装袋印上了“添加海盐”的标识。从有机全麦椒盐卷到什锦坚果，再到美国即食奶酪产品。

    显然食品行业认为海盐是主要的卖点。可是为什么？它真比平常的食盐好吗？

    纽约－长老会医院/威尔康奈尔医疗中心的注册营养师艾丽萨·拉姆齐说：“因为戴上了健康的光环，比起以前人们更多地使用海盐。它们和普通食盐最主要的差别在于质地。”

    拉姆齐说，比起食盐海盐更粗，呈颗粒状，因为它没经过太多加工。海盐是蒸发海水提炼出的。食盐则一般从地下盐矿开采出来，加工成细小的晶体。

    拉姆齐补充说，因为经历更少加工，海盐或许更有吸引力，但两种盐的基本营养价值大致相同。

    “对于某些食物，加工程序少确实更健康，”比如全谷物和精制谷物相比。“但我不认为海盐比食盐健康，”她说。

    “一茶匙食盐颗粒更小，所以比一茶匙海盐含更多钠。但严格来讲，重量等同时，二者含钠所占百分比相同，大约百分之四十。”

    从20世纪早期开始，食盐中一般都添加碘。

    海盐根据海水来源的不同也会含有其它矿物质，但通常量很少不会对饮食造成影响。

    海盐没有添加碘，它的标签上也会标明。

    最重要的是记住，海盐也是盐，不能吃太多。