Himalayan salt is a poor source of magnesium

I've seen claims that you should cook with Himalayan salt because, among many other dubious claims, it's a good dietary source of trace minerals like magnesium. Let's put this claim to the test.

An often-repeated claim by the promoters of Himalayan salt is that it contains 0.16 g/kg magnesium. The dietary recommendation is not to exceed 3750 mg of salt per day. The daily recommended intake of magnesium is 400 mg for adults.

To get your dietary intake of magnesium from Himalayan salt, you'd need to consume 667 times the safe amount of sodium! This is not advised.

Instead, you could eat the following foods. All have a higher concentration of magnesium than Himalayan salt. Even better, you can eat enough of these foods to easily achieve the recommended daily value of magnesium.

Food	Magnesium (g/kg)	Times more magnesium than Himalayan salt
Almonds	2.821919258	17.63699536
Spinach	0.687842819	4.299017619
Cashews	2.610275313	16.31422071
Peanuts	1.111130708	6.944566924
Soy milk	0.268964179	1.68102612
Black beans	0.529109861	3.30693663
Edamame	0.440924884	2.755780525
Peanut butter	1.731448763	10.82155477
Bread	0.821428571	5.133928571
Avocado	0.194006949	1.212543431
Potato	0.433365953	2.708537208
Rice	0.370376903	2.314855641
Yogurt	0.185188451	1.157427821
Oatmeal	1.285714286	8.035714286
Kidney beans	0.308647419	1.929046368
Banana	0.271186441	1.694915254
Salmon	0.30570756	1.910672251
Raisins	0.202825447	1.267659042
Chicken	0.258675628	1.616722674
Beef	0.235159662	1.469747885