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FitLive writes in 10 Amazing Benefits of Pink (Himalayan) Salt:

Balance pH (alkaline/acidity) and help to reduce acid reflux

Mercola makes the same claim in The 13 Amazing Health Benefits of Himalayan Crystal Salt, the Purest Salt on Earth:

Promoting healthy pH balance in your cells, particularly your brain cells

Does Himalayan Salt balance the pH of the body in a way that regular sea salt doesn't?

Christian
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    Well, if Mercola is endorsing it, I would say that is a pretty good barometer of it being male bovine excrement... ;) – JasonR Apr 11 '16 at 15:47

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Here is an analysis of the content of some average Himalayan salt. With a few specific exceptions, most elements contained are well below 1ppm (read: way too scarce to matter). What it does have in any meaningful quantity are all things that you should already be getting plenty of in an otherwise healthy diet (and if you aren't, a little pink salt certainly won't fix that!). Your body regulates its own pH very well, and Himalayan salt isn't going to change that one way or another. If you are concerned about your diet impacting the health of your nervous system, make sure you eat plenty of green vegetables, grains, seeds, legumes, etc... and definitely make sure you have some high quality fat sources in your diet (avocado, fish, eggs, those aforementioned seeds, etc). A wide variety of decent quality foodstuffs and regular physical & mental exercise are where its at. Don't get hung up on specific 'miracle foods' and trendy diets; they really aren't useful or necessary.

fspmarshall
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  • "miracle foods" are just marketing hype. And as for "balancing the pH", the body is quite able to that, thank you very much, and anyway, the stomach's acid will take care of unusual pH in the food. – hdhondt Apr 11 '16 at 10:49
  • According to the report that salt has a 2:3 sodium to kalium ratio while standard NaCl has 1:1. What makes you think that has no health effects? The same goes for the elements that aren't below 1ppm : Lithium, Sulfur, Iron, Potassium and Calcium? – Christian Apr 11 '16 at 11:55
  • @Christian Himalayan salt is almost completely Halite (at least 95%), so a 2:3 ratio of Sodium to Kalium (A.K.A Potassium) is _way, way_ off. Pure Halite, if you look at the basic formula unit, has _no_ Potassium, so the claimed "1:1 ratio" is plainly wrong. – Harris Apr 11 '16 at 16:21
  • @Christian : An Na:K ratio of 2:3? That table says 382 g/Kg of Na and 3.5 g/Kg of K which is 10:1 isn't it? In other news, I like that it has 1 ppm Tantalum and 3 ppm of Europium! – gilleain Apr 11 '16 at 16:44
  • I think I made some English-German translation error but above I referenced Na:Cl ratio. That's how you get the 2:3. – Christian Apr 13 '16 at 21:59