Rock salt nutritional value per 100g: sodium, minerals and calories

The table below holds everything the published record has on rock salt nutrition per 100 g, and it is honest about its gaps. Neither the Indian Food Composition Tables of 2017 (ICMR-NIN) nor USDA FoodData Central keeps a rock-salt or pink-salt entry, so the one figure shown, 38800 mg of sodium, comes from USDA's table-salt record as a stand-in — fair, because the Dietary Guidelines for Indians put the sodium across salt varieties at almost similar. Every other line is blank because IFCT 2017 and USDA FoodData Central print no figure for it, and the blanks are part of the answer.

Read the blanks the right way. A blank line is not a claim that the salt holds none of that nutrient; it means the two records print no figure, so none is quoted. The guidelines add one line about minerals in general: salt often contains some essential trace minerals such as magnesium, calcium and iron. How much of that actually reaches you from pink salt is the minerals section below.

Rock salt calories are the blank people search first, and the answer sits in the records: neither IFCT 2017 nor USDA FoodData Central prints an energy figure for salt, and none is invented. Common salt is sodium chloride, 40 percent sodium and 60 percent chloride in the guidelines' words, so the energy on a vrat plate comes from the kuttu flour, potato and ghee around the salt, not from the salt itself. The macronutrient lines tell the same story. Protein, fat, carbohydrate and fibre are nutrients of food, and neither of the two records gives rock salt a value for any of them.

The one nutrient USDA's table-salt record does print is the one the guidelines' salt rules hang on: sodium, 38800 mg per 100 g. The same guidelines state the rule plainly — irrespective of the variety of salt, consumption should be limited, since the sodium content in them is almost similar. What that means per teaspoon and per day is the next section.

USDA's table-salt record prints 38800 mg of sodium per 100 g, and the kitchen uses far smaller amounts: a level teaspoon of salt weighs 5 g, so a teaspoon of sendha namak carries 1940 mg of sodium. The Dietary Guidelines for Indians cap the day's added salt at 5 g, one level teaspoon, and print the Indian and WHO sodium recommendation as 2300 mg a day, translated there to around that same teaspoon of common salt — common salt being 40 percent sodium and 60 percent chloride.

Actual intake runs above the cap. A 2017 survey measured salt by 24-hour urine in 1395 people across Delhi, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh: 8.59 g a day in the north Indian region and 9.46 g a day in Andhra Pradesh, both well above the WHO's 5 g maximum, and the measurement did not split rock salt from table salt. The WHO lists cutting population sodium among the cost-effective steps against non-communicable disease, one of nine global targets its Member States adopted. For one kitchen that target is the teaspoon — the measure behind kuttu khichdi and every other salted dish.

The pink colour suggests minerals, and the 2020 Australian mineral analysis tested exactly that. A 2020 study bought 31 pink salts from Australian shops, coded each sample's colour, form and country of origin, and scanned for 25 nutrients and non-nutritive minerals. Three findings matter. First, variation: the type and range of minerals differed widely from sample to sample, so pink salt is a family of salts, not one fixed recipe. Second, colour, form and origin tracked minerals: Himalayan-origin, flake-form and darker-coloured samples generally carried more. Third, the amounts were small — the study calculated that over 30 g a day, about six teaspoons, would be needed for the minerals to make any meaningful contribution to intake, a level far past the day's salt cap, and one sample carried lead above 2 mg per kg, over the national limit set by Food Standards Australia New Zealand.

Two cautions for Indian readers. The scan covered pink salts sold in Australia, not Indian sendha namak, so the findings describe pink salt as a category, not your jar. And the study's closing line is the everyday one: pink salt intake should stay below the Australia and New Zealand guideline level of 5 g of salt a day. The minerals are a colour story; the nutrient that actually matters stays sodium. What the salt's everyday use adds up to, benefit by benefit, is on rock salt benefits.

As a nutrition comparison, the salt shelf is a near-tie. Table salt carries the same 38800 mg per 100 g figure, since the stand-in record is the same one, and the guidelines say the sodium in the varieties is almost similar. Common salt comes refined or unrefined, at 99 and 96 percent purity respectively, with the everyday form finely ground and processed with an anti-caking agent (ICMR-NIN); sendha namak sits apart as the occasion salt, the two rock salts told apart by colour, texture and smell. Kala namak gets no number of its own: the two food-composition records print no sodium or mineral figure for it, so none is quoted. The jar-by-jar verdicts are on rock salt vs normal salt and rock salt vs black salt, and the vrat-day rules around the pink jar have their own page: why sendha namak is used in fast.

The glycemic index does not apply to salt, and no vitamin figure is printed for it in either record. The GI covers carbohydrate foods, and salt's record holds no carbohydrate value, so there is no GI number to quote for sendha namak; the same blank holds for vitamin C, folate and the B vitamins. Iodine gets one sourced line: the WHO's salt-iodization guideline is about fortifying food-grade table salt with iodine, and no iodine figure appears in IFCT 2017 or USDA FoodData Central for rock salt — which is why the guidelines say use iodized salt for the everyday jar. The guidelines add that vegetables and fruits bring potassium, which helps the body excrete sodium and maintain blood pressure. Names, storage and the rest of the salt's pages are gathered on the pink salt hub.

Does sendha namak has sodium?

Yes — it is salt. The one figure for rock salt is 38800 mg of sodium per 100 g, USDA's table-salt value standing in, and the ICMR-NIN guidelines say the sodium across salt varieties is almost similar. A level teaspoon (5 g) carries 1940 mg, and the day's cap is that one teaspoon.

Does sendha namak have less sodium?

No. The Dietary Guidelines for Indians say the sodium content in the varieties is almost similar, so sendha namak is not a low-sodium salt, and no recipe gains by swapping table salt for it. One teaspoon of either holds 1940 mg of sodium, and both count toward the same 5 g a day cap.

Does rock salt contain iodine?

No iodine figure appears for rock salt in IFCT 2017 or USDA FoodData Central; none is quoted in either direction. Iodine's everyday home is the fortified table salt — the WHO's salt-iodization guideline covers food-grade table salt, and the guidelines' "use iodized salt" points at that jar.

How much sodium is in one teaspoon of rock salt?

1940 mg. A level teaspoon of salt weighs 5 g, and the figure is 38800 mg of sodium per 100 g (USDA's table-salt record standing in for rock salt), so a teaspoon carries 5 g at that rate: 1940 mg. The whole day's added salt is capped at that one teaspoon (ICMR-NIN).

How many calories in rock salt?

No calorie figure is printed for rock salt: USDA's table-salt record carries sodium only, and salt is sodium chloride, 40 percent sodium and 60 percent chloride in the guidelines' words. The calories in a salted dish come from the food around the salt — the flour, potato, ghee or dal — not from the salt.

Which salt has the lowest sodium?

None that the record can point to. The Dietary Guidelines for Indians say the sodium in the varieties is almost similar, and the day's cap of 5 g applies to all of them. Choosing a salt for its sodium is a dead end; choose by use — the iodized everyday jar for daily cooking, sendha namak for vrat days.