Trader Joe’s is a grocery store chain located throughout North America which is famous for it’s specialty ingredients and food products. However, given recent interest in iodine as an ingredient, some may feel they need to know the answer to the question: Does Trader Joe’s Pink Himalayan Salt have iodine?
Trader Joe’s Pink Himalayan Salt does not contain iodine. Though it is a source of magnesium, potassium, and calcium which give it the bright pink coloration, iodine is not one of these healthy minerals included in Trader Joe’s Pink Himalayan Salt’s ingredients. It can still be added to any dish or recipe in the place of typical, white sea salt.
In this article, we’ll cover why iodine may be important in one’s diet and for one’s health, and what pink Himalayan salt has to do with this ingredient. We’ll also go over some alternative sources of iodine, and the general attitudes of the consumer towards iodine that is found in salt.
Understanding Iodine
According to WebMD, Iodized salt, which is salt that holds trace amounts of either potassium or sodium iodide, is the normal form of the salt we use on our tables. It is known for tasting and looking the same as just about any other salt, whether the comparison is between sea salt or pink Himalayan salt.
Iodine is a mineral that is not only found in salt, but also in some types of seafood and grains, some eggs, and in most dairy products. It is essential for a number of functions in the human body, including the development of hormones for the thyroid and prevention of goiter disorders.
Though plenty of salts include iodine because of their health benefits, some, such as Trader Joe’s Pink Himalayan Salt, do not. Let’s learn more about this product and why that exclusion of iodine may be in the section below.
Trader Joe’s Pink Himalayan Salt and Iodine
Trader Joe’s Pink Himalayan Salt, as aforementioned, does not actually have iodine in it. It is actually sourced from Pakistan in the Punjab region, at the bottom of the Himalayan mountains.
Actually, it is incredibly close to table salt in terms of chemical makeup. Pink Himalayan salt has only one or two percent difference in sodium chloride content!
The one big difference between Pink Himalayan Salt and table salt or sea salt is that Pink Himalayan Salt is unrefined.
The refining process used for white table salt is where iodine is typically added using a spray method. So although Pink Himalayan Salt may taste similar to table salt and even contain very light traces of iodine, it does not have any added.
To check the current price and availability of Trader Joe’s Himalayan Pink Salt, click here to view the listing on Amazon.
Importance of Iodine in the Diet
Iodine is, as previously mentioned in the sections above, a very important mineral for the human body to have. Some of the benefits of iodine are found in the list below:
- Thyroid Function Boost – Your thyroid gland needs iodine for increasing the production of important hormones responsible for regulating body temperature, blood pressure, and even heart rate. In fact, the development of an infant’s brain and bones are all dependent on those same hormones.
- Goiter Prevention – Without the above hormones produced in the thyroid with proper levels of iodine, your thyroid gland can actually become swollen or enlarged. This condition, known as a goiter, could be prevented if only the afflicted person had more iodine in their diet.
- Aids Weight Control – Your thyroid, which iodine supports, is responsible for your metabolism, too. If your metabolism is incredibly high, you could be underweight, while the opposite is true with a very slow metabolism. The thyroid, with healthy levels of iodine, regulates weight.
According to WebMD, how much iodine you should actually have is dependent on whether or not you are pregnant or breastfeeding and, most prominently, your age.
For example, those who are still in their teen years need between 120 micrograms and 150 micrograms of iodine.
Those in their adult years should take 150 micrograms, and children between a year old and 8 should have at least 90 micrograms.
When pregnant or breastfeeding, the iodine intake should be between 220 and 290 micrograms for optimal health of the mother and the child.
However, eating too much salt is just as dangerous to one’s health as a lack of iodine, so remember that this mineral can be achieved by eating dairy, seafood products, and grains, too.
Alternative Sources of Iodine
Since Trader Joe’s Pink Himalayan Salt does not include iodine, and getting all of your iodine from salt is not the healthiest option anyway, it would be helpful to partake in alternative sources of this mineral.
Let’s take a look at some alternative sources of iodine in the list below:
- Seaweed – Kombu kelp in a powdered form, red nori seaweed, and wakame are all good seaweed sources of iodine.
- Beans – Lima beans are one of the highest sources of iodine one can find and consume.
- Fruit – Prunes, strawberries, pineapple, and cranberries are all famous for being able to produce iodine in the diet.
The benefits of most of these above-listed sources of iodine is that they do not come with some of the heart-health risks involved with eating too much salt as a source of iodine.
Instead, seaweed, beans, and the fruits mentioned all come with their own extra sources of health benefits beyond just aiding in iodine content!
Consumer Attitudes Toward Iodine in Salt
Consumer attitudes toward iodine in salt have shifted over the years. For example, in the summer of 2008, an article concerning the fact that sales of iodized salt in Australia have been low since the 1960s, but after news coverage about the importance of iodine, the percentage of salt sales increased by 5.2%.
This suggests that consumers really were not aware or did not find the need for iodine in their diets pressing.
When reviewed by ReasearchGate, it was discovered that over 50% of popularly purchased salt products in the United States are iodized.
After the COVID-19 Pandemic, the United States had to suffer a lower amount of production of iodized salt thanks to the fact that supply routes were being delayed or stopped altogether across the country.
Additionally, COVID-19 affected taste buds, causing loss of taste that even iodized salt could not break through.
Frequently Asked Questions
Wondering a few more things about Pink Himalayan Salt, Trader Joe’s, and Iodine? Check out our answers to the web’s most frequently asked questions on these subjects in the sections below!
Does pink Himalayan salt have iodine?
Pink Himalayan Salt does have some very faint traces of iodine, but since most iodine is added to typically sold table salt during the refining process and Pink Himalayan Salt is unrefined by nature, these amounts are too small to be seriously considered an ingredient.
Does Trader Joe’s have iodized salt?
Trader Joe’s does not have Iodized Salt in their product labels, or any of their products except for those using Sea Salt, which is inseparable from naturally occurring iodine.
Final Thoughts
To sum everything we’ve learned up, iodine is not found in Trader Joe’s Pink Himalayan Salt. Despite the lack of iodine in this particular brand of salt, Trader Joe’s still proudly recommends that their Pink Himalayan salt be used on any recipe or dish that would typically require regular, white sea salt to taste.
With that being said, iodine is an important mineral for bodily health, and many with iodine deficiencies use salt that features iodine as a way to regulate this.
Therefore, we recommend using regular table salt or iodine supplements if you have an iodine deficiency. You can also gain iodine from eating eggs, seaweed, or fruits like prunes and strawberries.