The nutritional value of sea salt and table salt are about the same as they are both primarily sodium chloride. Table salt is more processed than sea salt to eliminate minerals and usually contains an additive such as silicon dioxide to prevent clumping.
Iodine, an element essential for human health, is present only in small amounts in sea salt. Iodised salt is table salt mixed with a minute amount of various salts of the element iodine.
Studies have found some microplastic contamination in sea salt from the US, Europe and China. Sea salt has also been shown to be contaminated by fungi that can cause food spoilage as well as some that may be mycotoxigenic.
In traditional Korean cuisine, jugyeom (, 竹鹽), which means "bamboo salt",  is prepared by roasting salt at temperatures between 800 and 2000 °C in a bamboo container plugged with mud at both ends.  This product absorbs minerals from the bamboo and the mud, and is claimed to increase the anticlastogenic and antimutagenic properties of the fermented soybean paste known in Korea as doenjang. However, these claims are not substantiated by high-quality studies.