While in recent years salt has been condemned as a health hazard on par with cholesterol, trans fats, and even tobacco, a faction of sea salt experts is taking the anti-salt hype with--what else--a grain of salt. These "salt-issuers" contend that salt can be good for people, as long as it's not stripped of its natural mineral content.

Of course, this does not include bleached white table salt or the high levels of sodium in processed foods. Instead, health food enthusiasts are flocking to natural, living sea salt as a source of essential nutrients when used as a finishing touch on foods.

Whole sea salts contain trace minerals that are beneficial to your health. In fact, you can't live without salt, one expert points out. Sodium is the main component of the body's extra cellular fluids, and it helps carry nutrients into the cells. Sodium also helps regulate other body functions, such as blood pressure and fluid volume, and sodium works on the lining of blood vessels to keep the pressure balance normal.

But don't go pouring an umbrella-full of salt on tonight's dinner. The natural salt movement stresses that consumers should reduce the amount of salt they use, while increasing the quality.

Movement proponents believe that this practice of quality over quantity is the key to healthy salt. Putting gourmet salt on the top of food after it is cooked will allow consumers to use much less total sodium chloride, but still get all of the satisfying and savory salt flavor. They contend that this is the beauty of finishing salts, as they are sprinkled on a dish after it is prepared. Easily done in the kitchen or at the table, this allows each individual to taste the food, and then season accordingly with natural sea salt to their desired level of saltiness.

Natural sea salt, which is simply evaporated sea water, contains no additives and is not chemically processed. When evaporated by the warmth of the sun, natural sea salt retains all of its naturally occurring, beneficial minerals. As a result, these unrefined salts each have a unique color, mineral makeup, density, crystalline structure and flavor.

Many think of salt as a basic table seasoning, but this shift towards gourmet, natural salts aims to change that ingrained belief. Avid natural salt consumers advocate that, whereas average table salt can add a predictable tang to a meal, premium natural sea salt can transform the taste of a dish, conjuring up subtle flavors and bold connotations--all while providing minerals essential to the healthy function of the human body.