Redmond Real Salt is a minimally processed rock salt mined from an ancient seabed in Utah, and it does offer some genuine advantages over standard table salt. It contains trace minerals, no anti-caking agents, and no chemical additives. But the differences between Redmond salt and regular salt are smaller than the marketing suggests, and the total amount of salt you eat matters far more than the type.
What Makes Redmond Salt Different
Standard table salt is about 99.9% sodium chloride. It’s chemically washed, stripped of trace minerals, and typically includes anti-caking agents to keep it flowing freely. Redmond Real Salt skips all of that. It’s mined from a deposit left by an ancient inland sea, crushed, and packaged without chemical processing, bleaching, or additives. The result is a salt that’s roughly 98% sodium chloride with small amounts of over 60 trace minerals, which also give it its characteristic pinkish color.
Those trace minerals include calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron, manganese, and zinc. The amounts are real but small. You’d need to eat far more salt than is healthy to get meaningful doses of any single mineral from it. Think of the minerals as a minor bonus, not a supplement.
The Blood Pressure Question
One of the more interesting claims about unrefined salts is that they’re easier on your cardiovascular system than pure sodium chloride. There’s limited but intriguing animal research behind this idea. A study published in Food & Nutrition Research compared unrefined sea salt (about 85.7% sodium chloride, with measurable calcium, potassium, and magnesium) against refined salt (99.9% sodium chloride) in rats that are genetically prone to high blood pressure. After 15 weeks, the rats eating unrefined salt at both dose levels had significantly lower blood pressure than those eating refined salt at the same doses. The refined salt group also showed more kidney damage and abnormal heart measurements.
This is a single animal study, and rat physiology doesn’t map perfectly onto humans. But the proposed mechanism makes sense: potassium and magnesium are known to help counterbalance sodium’s effect on blood pressure. The question is whether the tiny amounts present in unrefined salt are enough to matter in a real human diet. That hasn’t been proven yet. If you’re concerned about blood pressure, eating less salt overall and getting potassium from foods like bananas, potatoes, and leafy greens will do far more than switching salt brands.
Iodine Content Falls Short
Redmond salt contains naturally occurring iodine, about 23 micrograms per quarter teaspoon. That’s roughly 15% of the recommended daily intake of 150 micrograms for adults. It sounds decent until you consider that iodized table salt delivers about 70 micrograms per quarter teaspoon, nearly half your daily need in the same serving.
If you switch entirely to Redmond salt and don’t eat much seafood, dairy, or eggs, you could end up low on iodine. Iodine deficiency affects thyroid function and is still a real problem globally. This is one area where plain iodized table salt has a clear practical advantage.
Lead and Arsenic Concerns
Because Redmond salt is unrefined, it contains whatever trace elements existed in the original mineral deposit, including less desirable ones. Independent lab testing has detected lead at approximately 290 parts per billion, along with measurable arsenic. The lead level falls well below the European regulatory limit of 1,000 parts per billion for salt, but some consumer safety advocates argue that any detectable lead is worth noting, especially for children and pregnant women.
Context matters here. You consume roughly one to two teaspoons of salt per day total, so the absolute quantity of lead from that amount of salt is extremely small. For most adults, it’s not a level that toxicologists would consider dangerous. But if minimizing heavy metal exposure is a priority for you, it’s worth knowing that highly refined salt contains virtually none of these trace contaminants, precisely because the refining process strips them out along with the beneficial minerals.
Microplastics: Mined Salt Isn’t Necessarily Cleaner
One selling point of mined salt is that it should be free of the microplastics found in modern sea salt. Intuitively, salt from an ancient underground deposit seems like it would be untouched by plastic pollution. The reality is more complicated. A study in Environmental Science and Pollution Research found that mined salts, including Himalayan pink salt (which is geologically similar to Redmond salt), actually contained higher microplastic counts than sea salt. Himalayan pink salt had about 174 particles per kilogram compared to roughly 30 particles per kilogram in sea salt.
The researchers concluded that the contamination likely comes not from the salt deposit itself but from the mining, processing, and packaging stages, where airborne microplastics settle onto the product. This doesn’t make Redmond salt uniquely bad. All commercial salt contains some microplastics. But the idea that mined salt is automatically “purer” on this front doesn’t hold up.
How Salt Actually Helps With Hydration
Sodium is essential for fluid balance. Your intestines absorb water by following sodium across cell membranes, a process that also works hand in hand with sugar absorption. This is why oral rehydration solutions contain both salt and glucose. Electrolytes in any form of salt help maintain blood volume and regulate how water moves in and out of your cells, especially during prolonged exercise or heat exposure.
Redmond salt’s extra minerals, particularly potassium and magnesium, do participate in electrolyte balance. Whether the small quantities present in a normal day’s salt intake make a noticeable difference in hydration compared to regular salt is debatable. If you’re adding a pinch of salt to your water bottle after a long run, Redmond salt is a fine choice, but so is any salt paired with a balanced diet.
The Bottom Line on Quantity
The World Health Organization recommends less than 2,000 milligrams of sodium per day for adults, equivalent to just under a teaspoon of salt. Most people in Western countries consume well over that amount, and the excess comes overwhelmingly from processed and restaurant foods, not from the salt shaker on your table. Switching your finishing salt to Redmond won’t meaningfully change your sodium intake unless you also address those larger sources.
Redmond Real Salt is a perfectly fine salt. It tastes good, it’s minimally processed, and it contains trace minerals that refined salt doesn’t. But the health gap between it and regular salt is narrow. The minerals are too small to replace whole foods. The iodine is lower than iodized salt. The lead levels are low but nonzero. And no matter what type of salt you use, the single most important factor is how much of it you eat.