Salt Lamps and Snake Oil

Posted as a direct Quote from the Los Angeles Times by www.SaltLampCreations.com where we have always promoted Salt Lamps as a thing of beauty rather than focus on their curative power. We are NOT the Canadian company quoted in the article:

Ho-Ho Hocum Gift products that Claim To Boost Health and Well-being

Salt Lamps

These functioning electric lamps enclosed in a chunk of salt have been adding their pleasant glow to health fairs and mall kiosks for years. Unlike most light fixtures, illumination isn't their main selling point. Salt lamps are touted as a natural source of "negative ions" that supposedly improve the health of anyone nearby.


Shopping over the Internet, you can quickly find salt lamps in many shapes, including pyramids, angels and, appropriately enough for the season, Christmas trees.

The claims: According to one Canadian website, the negative ions released by salt lamps will relieve stress and "clean ambient air." The cleansing power of the lamps supposedly makes them "especially helpful for relieving the symptoms of allergies and asthma." The site also claims that the lamp's soft orange color can boost mood and improve the focus of children with attention deficit disorder. Other sites claim that salt lamps can treat migraines, insomnia, depression, sinusitis and viral infections.

Bottom line: If glowing crystals fit the home décor of your friends and family, salt lamps might be a good present. But experts see two basic flaws behind the claim that users will ionize their way to good health. First, it's not possible for a chunk of salt to release a significant amount of negative ions, says Victor Stenger, a professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. There isn't nearly enough energy in a lamp to break up the ionic bonds between the sodium and chlorine in salt. "If that were true, we'd have chlorine gas coming out our salt shakers."

Nadeem Azeem, a partner (at the Canadian company) says he has heard such criticisms before but believes that his lamps really do produce ions. "Believe" is the key word. "We haven't done any studies," he says. "But I'm sure that meters can measure the ions."

Even if these salt blocks somehow released ions through a loophole in the laws of chemistry and physics, they couldn't deliver on their health claims, says Michael Terman, director of the Center for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. Terman's studies have found that large doses of negatively charged oxygen ions generated by a machine can help ease depression in people with seasonal affective disorder -- a finding touted on several salt lamp sites. But there's a world of difference between oxygen streaming from a machine and chlorine supposedly trickling from a rock, he says. "I was dismayed to see my research touted by salt lamp companies. It's disgraceful." As for the claim that the color of the lamps can dramatically improve mood or treat ADHD -- "that's just nuts," Terman says.

Other studies of negative ions (from machines, not salt) have had decidedly mixed results. For example, a review published in 2003 found no evidence that negative ions can improve symptoms of asthma.

The Canadian company owner says his salt lamps can't really be compared to machine ionizers. "Salt lamps don't produce as many ions as a machine," he says. "In nature, things happen very slowly." Or, some would say, not at all.


At Salt Lamp Creations (www.SaltLampCreations.com) you can read about how Salt Lamps are made and shop for Salt Lamps as simply things of beauty crafted from 250 million year old Salt (carbon dating fact!)

Salt Lamp Update

What an interesting year this is turning out to be in the Salt Lamp world.

I can still ask 10 people on the street what a Salt Lamp is and get at least 9 who have no idea.
It is amazing, considering there are millions of links online that lead to Salt Lamp domains, Salt Lamp Information and Salt Lamp blogs like this one, yet so few know what they are.

A Natural Himalayan Crystal Salt Lamp is one of the most beautiful expressions of Mother Nature's handiwork. Hand mined from caves deep below the surface of the Himalayan mountains, this Salt is over 150 million years old and was "created" as a result of the colloision of the continents, as the Earth went through some big land mass changes.

Today, the Salt Crystal is removed from the mines and formed by hand chipping into Natural shapes or machine carved into Geometrical shapes. The Salt is then drilled to accomodate a lighting assembly so that they produce a warm glow when illuminated with a simple small candelabra bulb. The Crystal Salt is now a Salt Lamp.

In an attempt to sell more Salt Lamps, many companies are relying on the desire of Americans to find wholistic cures for things that ail them. We receive dozens of phone calls and email inquiries to ask us if our Salt Lamps work like the others they have seen advertised. They ask us if it is true that a Salt Lamp can purify the air and rid it of all harmful allergens and produce miraculous cures for diseases ranging from Asthma to Allergies.

All Salt Lamps basically come the same region and thus are "created equal" however....not all Salt Lamp companies are created equal.

Since we (www.SaltLampCreations.com) are not Doctors, and do not want to run up against the FDA, who eventually get involved in reviewing any product that makes medical claims. Without having spent $ millions on studies that can provide proof of their claims, Salt Lamp companies are freely dispensing stories about the healing power of Salt Lamps.

Just yesterday I received a notification of a class action suit against Sharper Image for claims they made about their now famous Ionic Breeze machines. Though Sharper Image appears to deny it, the case against them was brought by people who relied on the company's claims and had adverse effects when using the product. The suit claims that the Ionic Breeze emits harmful Ozones.

We also receive letters (testimonials) from customers who have had positive experience from their Salt Lamps and we are pleased that they have derived a benefit. But we hold true to our main belief: Salt Lamps are beautiful and as every Salt Lamp is, by Nature, unique, they make a special addition to anyone's home or office.

Let me know what you think!