Your salt should contain correct percentages of sodium, potassium, magnesium, boron, iodine, manganese, zinc , copper, chromium, lithium and selenium with some sea salt to get traces of other minerals. Note that you cannot just use sea salt alone as this always 99% sodium chloride so the proportions are not great.
We still have a problem. The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of some minerals may have been just adequate 70 years ago when we were eating produce from the local farm and were young, but now we eat products from the world which have often been processed (and have pure sodium salt pre-added) or grown on mineral depleted soils and we are older. So the RDA of 55 mcg for selenium will not prevent alzheimers disease and studies show at least 200 mcg is needed and probably some lithium as well. The RDA of 150 mcg of iodine has always been inadequate and will give you no protection from cancer. Also the molecular form of iodine (I2) is important for some tissues (e.g. breasts) and is brown and soon evaporates from salt during storage. So actually you do need to supplement with Lugol's iodine daily anyway to get the I2 iodine. It will not be delivered with any iodized salt. Also the salt we add to our meals and use in cooking is actually quite small (< 20%) compared to the salt already in processed manufactured foods so it is rare that we would actually season with 3 teaspoons of salt ourselves. In particular my mother, traumatized by salt misinformation propagated by authorities, does not add salt to anything, so using salt as a means to supplement is not effective. I do not eat any bread or cereals so I miss out on the fortification (mandatorily fortified with calcium carbonate, iron, niacin, and thiamin, folic acid in 2026). For these reasons you should supplement consciously and deliberately in minerals at the dose you need without relying on sneaking it in to salt or cereals. That said, a minimal dose in your salt or cereals is better that nothing!
The atomic mass of sodium is 23 g/mol and NaCl sodium chloride is 59 g/mol
The atomic mass of potassium is 39 g/mol and KCl potassium chloride is 75 g/mol
The atomic mass of magnesium is 24 g/mol and MgSO4 7(H20) magnesium sulphate heptahydrate or epsom salt is 246 g/mol
The atomic mass of magnesium is 24 g/mol and Mg2(OH)) magnesium hydroxide is 58 g/mol
The atomic mass of boron is 11 g/mol and Na2B4O7 10(H2O) borax is 381 g/mol and borax contains 4 boron atoms.
The atomic mass of iodine is 127 g/mol and Modern Lugols 15% solution contains iodine 2.5 mg/drop (1660% of RDA)
The atomic mass of manganese is 55 g/mol and Chelated Manganese tablets are available with 50 mg per tablet (2174% of RDA)
The atomic mass of zinc is 55 g/mol and zinc citrate tablets are available with 50 mg per tablet (500% of RDA)
The atomic mass of selenium is 79 g/mol and selenium tablets are available with at 200 mcg per tablet (400% of RDA)
The atomic mass of copper is 63 g/mol and copper tablets are available with at 2 mg per tablet (222% of RDA)
The atomic mass of chromium is 52 g/mol and chromium picolinate tablets are available with at 200 mcg per tablet (571% of RDA)
The atomic mass of lithium is 7 g/mol and lithium orotate tablets are available with at 5mg per tablet (no RDA but 1000% of chosen daily microdose)
I weighed the amount of salt I would sprinkle for 1 meal and it was
1.5 grams. So for 2 salted meals per day that would be 3 grams per
day. You will see later that my judgement was wrong and that I need
to use 5 times as much as I thought for optimum health!. The
worldwide research over 5 decades has concluded the estimated
healthy range for human sodium intake is 120–220 mmol/d
(2,800–5,000mg/d)
Oxford
Academic.
The bulk of the salt will be Saxa SO-LOW which is 51% potassium chloride and 48% sodium chloride. I will use the whole 350 grams in the container.
I will add cornish sea salt which is naturally harvested at the shoreline. Despite saying it is mineral rich, Cornish Sea Salt 98.86% sodium chloride so extra minerals are negligible, certainly useless for potassium, magnesium and iodine but lets add 50 grams anyway so we at least get some exposure to trace minerals. So our mix so far with 48% of 350 grams and 99% of 50 grams has (0.48*350+0.99*50) = 217.5 grams sodium chloride. Potassium chloride weight is (0.52*350) = 182 g. Adding the other major weight elements (magnesium+boron) gives a batch of (217.5+182+155+6) = 560.5 g
The NHS recommend no more that 6 grams of sodium chloride per day (corresponding a sodium weight of 6*(23/59) = 2.34 grams sodium) HOWEVER they are mistaken as the lowest risk of health problems occurs with 4 grams sodium (sodium chloride 10.2 grams) per day and the NHS may be confused by people with low potassium and magnesium intake which will not be the case with our home made salt which includes potassium and magnesium. The US guidelines for sodium are similarly low (less than 2.3 grams sodium or (2.3*59/23) = 5.9 g sodium chloride. Given that you will be getting sodium from other sources anyway, like butter, cheese and crispbread , let us accept the national guidelines for this added seasoning salt (sodium chloride 6 grams). So even with my 3 gram sprinkling per day is insufficient and I will need to up this to (6*(560.5/217.5)) = 15.46 grams!!! or 5 times what I judged as normal So given our batch has 217.5 grams of sodium chloride and we want at most 6g of sodium chloride per day, then number of servings per batch is (217.5/6) = 36.25 servings. We will round that up to 38 servings
Given a minimum number of days supply of 38 days our expected daily serving of the whole mixture is 560.5/38 = 14.75 grams, this gives a sodium chloride per day of (217.5/38) = 5.72 grams sodium chloride. Nice!. That equates to a sodium weight of 5.72*(23/59) = 2.23 grams sodium , safe as expected.
The RDA for potassium is 4.7 grams. Our batch has (0.51*350) = 179 g of potassium chloride. Our mix so far (38 days) will equate to a potassium chloride weight of (179/38) = 4.7 grams of potassium chloride. That equates to a potassium weight of 4.7*(39/75) = 2.4 grams potassium, about half our daily requirement. You will also find much potassium in your leafy greens. If you have chronic kidney disease have a doctor test your potassium levels in your blood as you may need to increase or decrease your potassium consumption.
The RDA for magnesium is 400 mg. That can be obtained from epsom salt weighing 0.4*(246/24) = 4.1 grams. So for our 38 day batch we will add 4.1*38 = 155 grams of epsom salt. It sounds a lot but there is a lot of water in the epsom salt crystals. You will also find magnesium in your leafy greens!. Thomas E. Levy who wrote the book "Death by calcium" actually loves magnesium! (and says to never supplement calcium).
An alternative magnesium supplier is the alkaline magnesium hydroxide. The atomic mass of magnesium is 24 g/mol and Mg2(OH)) magnesium hydroxide is 58 g/mol. The RDA for magnesium is 400 mg. That can be obtained from magnesium hydroxide weighing 0.4*(58/24) = 1 gram. So for our 38 day batch we will add 1*38 = 38 grams of magnesium hydroxide.
Boron has no RDA, but less than 20 mg (derived from animals) is officially safe (and safety factors for human variability have been applied). Given cancer studies showing higher boron kills cancer and humans have experimented with twice this level, there really being not much toxicity to boron we can happily use this max safe level. We can buy boron as borax. To get 20 mg per day we need to add 0.02*(381/11/4) = 0.17 grams of borax. For our batch we add 0.17*38 = 6.46 grams of borax. It is observed that people with high boron levels have much less chance of cancer. But as boron is free nobody can make money from this fact so you are not going to hear about it.
The RDA for iodine is 150 micrograms (mcg) and the regulators do not
like supplements to contain more than 800 mcg. The NHS says Taking
0.5mg or less a day of iodine supplements is unlikely to cause any
harm.
There are some doctors like Dr. David Brownstein who promote
long term 12 milligram doses (80 times the RDA!) or shorter term 50
milligram doses (333 time the RDA) due to competition in body from
modern chemicals like fluoride and bromide. If your body does not
want the iodine it will just excrete it in urine. If your body does
want the iodine then it will be eagerly actively concentrated in
storage cells. The weak passive infusion of iodine in the blood
plasma will not cause any issues. The official adult dose of
potassium iodide to protect your thyroid from an anticipated
radioactive contamination event (say a nuclear fire) is 130 mg per
day (866 times the RDA) so you can see that they are indirectly
confessing that your thyroid is still hungry for iodine after 866
times the RDA and it would take more than 2 years worth of official
iodised salt to satisfy it for 1 day (of course the sodium would
kill you so do not even try this). To protect from an anticipated
radioactive contamination then take 18 drops of Lugols solution per
day short term. Let us go for 2 mg per day (13 times the RDA) so
(2*38) = 76mg for our batch. Lugols iodine has 2.5 mg I2 and 5mg
iodide so 7.5 mg per drop total. That is 2/7.5*38 = 10 drops of
Lugols iodine 15%. It will be important to store in an airtight
container to prevent molecular iodine gas evaporation. We can tell
by the colour which should remain brown. For people who need the I2
and find it is lost from the salt then they will have to take Lugols
drops separately, or inhale the vapor from heated Lugols (DIY vaping
opportunity!).
For manganese the Adequate Intake (AI): \(2.3\) mg/day for adult men and \(1.8\) mg/day for adult women, which is considered sufficient to prevent deficiency in most people, though the exact amount for optimum health is unknown. Though 11 mg is likely safe. For the batch we need 2.3*38 = 87.4 mg. That can be found crushing 2 x 50mg tablets.
The RDA for zinc is 11 mg, though 50 mg tablets are available for use when your immune system is actively fighting a current infection. Let us choose 11mg per day. So batch needs 11*38 = 418 mg of zinc which can be found by crushing 418/50 = 8 x 50 mg tablets.
The RDA for selenium is 55 micrograms (mcg) but this NOT optimal for dementia. The tolerable upper level UL is 400 mcg and a useful level is 200 mcg. We will use the useful level. So batch needs 200*38 = 7600 mcg of selenium which can be found by crushing 38 tablets of 200 mcg.
The RDA for copper is 1 mg (though likely not optimal). For the batch we need 1*38 = 38 mg. That can be found crushing 19 x 2mg tablets. Hopefully you can get some more from your cod liver oil tablet.
The RDA for chromium is 30 mcg (micrograms). However for diabetes
much higher amounts are tested effective. I generally
recommend taking 400µg of chromium with breakfast and 200µg with
lunch if you have diabetes for the first three months. If this
doesn’t considerably stabilize your blood sugar level then you can
increase up to 1,000mcg a day. But, once your blood sugar level is
consistently below 6 this might be more than you need. Certainly,
if you are experiencing blood sugar lows, it is probably time to
experiment with taking either 400mcg or 200mcg of chromium a day to
see if this is enough to keep your blood sugar level on an even
keel.
There is clearly no toxicity from large chromium doses. I
will choose 200 mcg. For the batch we need 200*38 = 7600 mcg
(micrograms). That can be found crushing 38 x 200 mcg tablets.
The suggested dose for lithium is 1000 mcg (micrograms) and most people get near zero (10 mcg). It is posited that lithium reduces suicides and other mental difficulties. Note that this 1 mg is still tiny compared to the theraputic use of lithium. However another suggestion (microdose) is 500 mcg. I prefer that lower dose. For the batch we need 500*38 = 19 mg (milligrams). That can be found crushing 4 x 5 mg tablets.
So our batch is now complete. Note you need to separately supplement vitamins B-complex, D3+K2, A, omega 3, plant compounds etc
In summary:-
| Compound | Amount | Units | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SO-LOW salt | 350 | grams | |||
| Cornish Sea Salt | 50 | grams | |||
| Either Epsom salt | 155 | grams | Or Magnesium Hydroxide powder | 38 | grams |
| Borax | 6.46 | grams | |||
| Lugols Iodine 15% | 10 | drops | |||
| Chelated Manganese (50mg manganese) | 2 | tablets | |||
| Zinc Citrate (50mg zinc) | 8 | tablets | |||
| Selenium (200mcg Selenium) | 38 | tablets | |||
| Copper (2mg Copper) | 19 | tablets | |||
| Chromium (200mcg Chromium Picolinate) | 38 | tablets | |||
| Lithium (5mg Lithium Orotate) | 4 | tablets |
If you prefer to get most of your sodium another way e.g. junk food, then you may not be able to use our salt mix as it is mostly sodium. In this case you could eliminate the 50g of Cornish Sea Salt (99% sodium chloride) in which case you reduce the sodium content while keeping the potassium and some sodium. It is still salty. It is less bulky now as total batch mass is now only (165+350)= 515g so the daily serving size is now 515/38 = 13 g
If you just want some of the other minerals without sodium or potassium then you could eliminate both the Celtic Sea Salt and the SO-LO salt but then it is no longer salty and can no longer be used like salt as it will be now enormously less bulky so the total batch mass is now only 165 grams (mostly epsom salt) so a daily serving is only 165/38 = 4.34 grams, less than a teaspoon.
If you only wanted magnesium then there are other forms you can buy online such as magnesium citrate but these are bulky pills and only give you 200mg magnesium. An interesting alternative is to drink milk of magnesia (magnesium hydroxide) in the form made by Phillips for upset stomach and indigestion. This may help some people who have stomach issues and wish to calm stomach at night before bed at least an hour after eating so that your stomach acid has finished its digestion and moved the stomach contents to the small intestine. Beware of reducing stomach acidity with drugs as an acid stomach is needed to kill bacteria, provide Nitric Oxide, digest proteins and absorb B vitamines.
The atomic mass of magnesium is 24 g/mol and Mg2(OH)) magnesium hydroxide is 58 g/mol
The RDA for magnesium is 400 mg. That can be obtained from magnesium hydroxide weighing 0.4*(58/24) = 0.97 grams
Each 5ml of milk of magnesia contains 0.415g of magnesium hydroxide so a suitable daily dose of of milk of magnesia would be 5*(0.97/0.415) = 11.6 ml. The bottle of milk of magnesia comes with a measuring cap which has lines at 5ml and 10ml etc will allow you to dose a bit more that 10 ml which is close enough. At this daily rate a 200 ml bottle of milk of magnesia will last about 18 days.